The 20-foot orange blossoms cascaded over the tranquil scene as they have done around this time since the early 1900s when Gardner started the tradition to, as the museum explains, “celebrate Spring, Easter and her birthday (April 14, 1840).”

The floral show will be on display through April 14. The museum recommends reserving tickets at GardnerMuseum.org.

Spokane is less touristy than other Pacific Northwest gems, and its mix of past and present makes it a delightful destination, even if you haven’t read “Cold Millions.” And there’s no better place to set up headquarters for your dive into the past than the Historic Davenport Hotel in downtown Spokane.

This century-old, majestic beauty is a treasure. When it opened in 1914, it was the height of modernity, the first hotel in the country to offer air conditioning. Obviously, that’s not why you’ll be checking in here. You’re coming for the grandeur, the ornate lounge and ballrooms, and an expansive indoor courtyard that’s known as Spokane’s living room.

This central gathering space has long been a hub for the arts, these days thanks to Grammy-nominated singer Sacha Boutros and her Sacha’s Supper Club, which hosts a “Swing with Bing” series celebrating the music of Bing Crosby, a Spokane native and once-frequent hotel guest. Speaking of the crooner, the vintage Bing Crosby Theater is just steps from the hotel. The venue, which opened in 1915 during the first wave of motion pictures, still hosts film presentations as well as live music and theater.

The hotel itself is said to be haunted, and perhaps it really is. It’s certainly easy to imagine a few literary ghosts hanging out here — Ursula the Great, say, a vaudeville singer in “The Cold Millions,” sipping martinis at the Davenport’s Peacock Room. The Jazz Age lounge is known for its stunning stained-glass ceiling, which depicts peacocks, of course, its cocktails and its popularity with the theater crowd, who flock pre- and post-show for cocktails and bites.

A 10-minute walk north toward the Spokane River brings you to the dramatic Spokane Falls. Hop aboard the Numerica SkyRide gondola for a closer view and spare a moment to reflect on the labor force that built the city’s bridges and railroads. Then stroll through Riverfront Park for a bit more history and be sure to take a peek at the hand-carved Looff Carrousel. Built in 1909 by Charles I. D. Looff, who made the carousel for the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk two years later, Spokane’s merry-go-round offers 54 horses, a giraffe, a tiger and two Chinese dragon chairs and, of course, a brass ring.

Traveling with kids or grandkids? Check out the park’s Garbage Goat, an interactive metal goat sculpture, and the 40,000-square-foot Ice Age Floods Playground, which opened in 2021 with a three-story Columbian slide tower, Glacial Dam splash pad, a log jam climber and a mammoth bones dig convey the geology and history of this region.

There’s plenty more to explore in Spokane, where more than two dozen craft breweries dot the cityscape. Be sure to check out Lumberbeard Brewing, where the brew list includes half a dozen hoppy IPAs, such as the Bluetooth Sharpie, as well as helles, pilsner, sour and barrel-aged beer, like a Maple Goodness barleywine. And don’t miss No-Li Brewhouse, the city’s oldest taproom which opened in 1993 with a lineup of IPAs, hazy ales, stouts and seltzers and a tasty food menu that includes fully-loaded nachos, burgers and chicken sandos, as well as grilled cheese for the kiddos.

Wine lovers will find 20 wine tasting rooms here, with more than a dozen clustered in the downtown “Cork District.” Among them: Greg Lipsker and Michael White’s Barrister Winery. Housed in an old brick building, Barrister has an unusual distinction: It offers “train settled” wines. The barrel room lies under a train trestle, and every time one of BNSF Railroad’s trains pass through — some 25,000 times per year — the vibrations gently shake the barrels, which helps the sediment settle out.

Spokane’s restaurant scene is thriving too. The downtown quarter offers the Cochinito Taqueria, a fun spot for tacos with inventive fillings — from heritage duroc pork cheek carnitas to fried maitake mushrooms — and great drinks. Wooden City opened in 2020, offering cocktails and tempting fare including wood-fired pizzas and crispy artichokes.

Slightly east of Riverfront Park, you’ll stumble onto a block full of great spots, including vintage shops, a natural grocery store and the Saranac Commons food hall, which houses Peace Pie Pizzeria — think New York style slices — and Hatch Beaker + Burr, a coffee geek’s dream come true. Restaurateur Celeste Shaw opened Cafe Coco just across the street last summer. The European-style cafe serves decadent baked goods, including a striped pistachio croissant.

On the north side of the river, the year-old Sorella in the Kendall Yards neighborhood is an Italian spot whose fresh, housemade pasta has set Spokane abuzz. (Psst, you’ll need reservations.) Also in that neighborhood: upscale ice cream at The Scoop, where the flavor rotations range from passionfruit cheesecake to caramel coffee toffee and Hostess Ding Dong. The same space houses the Hidden Bagel shop — and the nearby river and waterfall views are a bonus.

And USA Today readers recently named Jenny Slagle’s Indigenous Eats the No. 4 best new restaurant to open in the U.S. in 2023, praising its take on Native American comfort food, such as frybread topped with huckleberry sauce.

If You Go

The Historic Davenport Hotel: Rooms start at $158 at this historic property at 10 S. Post St. in Spokane; www.davenporthotelcollection.com.

Numerica SkyRide:, Tickets $9-$13. The Riverfront Park SkyRide is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on select days at 720 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.; www.my.spokanecity.org.

Bing Crosby Theater: Find the show schedule for this venue at 901 W. Sprague Ave. at https://bingcrosbytheater.com.

Lumberbeard Brewing: Opens at 11:30 a.m. daily at 25 E. Third Ave.; www.lumberbeardbrewing.com.

No-Li Brewhouse: Opens at noon daily at 1003 E. Trent Ave.; www.nolibrewhouse.com.

Barrister Winery: Opens at noon daily at 1213 W. Railroad Alley; www.barristerwinery.com.

Cochinito: Open for lunch and dinner Monday-Saturday at 10 N. Post St.; www.cochinitotaqueria.com.

Wooden City: Open for dinner daily at 821 W. Riverside Ave. Walk-ins welcome, but reservations are recommended to avoid the wait; www.woodencityspokane.com.

Saranac Commons: Open daily at 19 W. Main Ave.

Café Coco: Opens at 8 a.m. Tuesday-Saturday at 24 W. Main Ave.; www.instagram.com/dearcocoonmainstreet.

Sorella: Open for dinner Tuesday-Saturday at 1122 W. Summit Parkway. Reservations are a must;  www.sorellaspokane.com.

The Scoop Kendall Yards: Opens at 2 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday at 1238 W. Summit Parkway. Hidden Bagel  is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. those days in the same spot. Find details at www.thescoopspokane.com and www.hiddenbagel.com.

Indigenous Eats: 829 E. Boone Ave.; www.instagram.com/iespokane/

Discovery Adventure campers participated in three- or five-day programs at Old Sturbridge Village, a living and vibrant outdoor history museum in Sturbridge that depicts what life in a rural New England town was like in the early 19th century.

They learned not only the art of syrup making, but took in other classes and demonstrations like pottery making.

The teens were recently caught on camera at the Prudential Center store using the dark makeup samples on their faces. A woman — apparently the mother of one of the girls — stood by amid the behavior, which onlookers called “shameful” and “incredibly offensive.”

The girls were asked to leave the store, according to the company, which said it was “extremely disappointed” in the girls’ conduct.

The video went viral on TikTok before it was taken down from the site. It can still be seen across other social media platforms.

“This is so wild,” the TikTok user says in the video. “This is so shameful. This is so shameful.”

The girls reportedly made “animal sounds” while applying the makeup, the TikTok user posted.

The video showed one of the girls posing for her mother to take a photo of her with the dark makeup.

A woman who has been identified as an outside vendor at the store then confronted the mother.

“I walked over here and you were about to send a picture of that,” the outside rep told the mother. “You want to document this? Go ahead. This is the stuff that ruins jobs, college acceptances, let alone how incredibly offensive this is.”

The mother turned and walked away during the admonishment.

Dear @Sephora,

You have an amazing employee who stepped in when a group of teenagers and their mothers walked in and used your samples to do blackface while recording themselves making animal noises.

I hope this goes viral so this young woman gets a raise instead of fired for… pic.twitter.com/5UYlboPVvu

— Ryan Shead (@RyanShead) February 12, 2024

Sephora issued a statement after the video went viral.

“Sephora’s top priority is to create a welcoming and inclusive shopping experience for all,” the company said in a statement.

“We are extremely disappointed by the behavior of these shoppers at our Prudential Center location, and as such, they were asked to leave our premises,” Sephora added. “Under no circumstance is this type of behavior tolerated at Sephora.”

“White teens at Sephora in Boston doing blackface while their mom says nothing. Welcome to America in 2024,” a user posted.

“Unfortunately as a Bostonian I am not surprised that the racist children who put on blackface in Sephora happened in Boston,” another person wrote.

“Boston has come a long way since its admittedly racist past,” a social media user posted. “But kids at Sephora in blackface in 2024?”

The Coast Guard Cutter William Sparling plied the waters of Boston Harbor past sailors flying spinnakers as they challenged frostbite.

A pair out west believe they have cracked “one of the holy grails of shark science” when they reportedly spotted a first-of-its-kind white shark pup about 1,000 feet from the beach.

A California researcher and wildlife filmmaker were looking for sharks near Santa Barbara last summer, and they saw a pure white 5-foot-long shark. This was different from a juvenile or adult great white shark — which only has white on its bottom with gray on top.

“We enlarged the images, put them in slow motion, and realized the white layer was being shed from the body as it was swimming,” said University of California Riverside biology doctoral student Phillip Sternes.

“I believe it was a newborn white shark shedding its embryonic layer,” the researcher added.

If this was in fact a newborn great white shark, it could mean that the Southern California region is a critical birthing location for the species.

“Where white sharks give birth is one of the holy grails of shark science,” said wildlife filmmaker Carlos Gauna, who captured the images of the shark on his drone camera. No one has ever been able to pinpoint where they are born, nor has anyone seen a newborn baby shark alive.

“There have been dead white sharks found inside deceased pregnant mothers. But nothing like this,” Gauna added.

The other theory about this shark is it has an unknown skin disorder that results in shedding and discharge, but the researchers aren’t buying into that premise.

“If that is what we saw, then that too is monumental because no such condition has ever been reported for these sharks,” Gauna said.

Great white females give birth to live pups. While in utero, the embryonic sharks might feed on unfertilized eggs for protein. The mothers offer additional nourishment to the growing shark pups with a “milk” secreted in the uterus.

“I believe what we saw was the baby shedding the intrauterine milk,” Sternes said.

Large, likely pregnant great whites have reportedly been seen in this California location. Gauna had spotted them there in the weeks leading up to the newborn observation.

“I filmed three very large sharks that appeared pregnant at this specific location in the days prior,” Gauna said. “On this day, one of them dove down, and not long afterwards, this fully white shark appears. It’s not a stretch to deduce where the baby came from.”

Also, the shark’s small size is a sign that it’s a newborn. The shark was thin, short, and rounded.

“In my opinion, this one was likely hours, maybe one day old at most,” Sternes said.

This location off the coast of California has long been proposed as a birthing location for great whites.

“There are a lot of hypothetical areas, but despite intense interest in these sharks, no one’s seen a birth or a newborn pup in the wild,” Sternes said. “This may well be the first evidence we have of a pup in the wild, making this a definitive birthing location.”

1. COMPOSITION

The No. 1 thing to consider to help make your photos pop is composition.

I like to tell people, “Don’t shoot everything from eye level – go low and go high.” Simply changing your point of view can give your images a whole new look.

Try turning your phone upside down and shooting from the ground. The unique perspective can make your subject stand out.

Also, turn the grid option on in your camera settings. This will overlay a tic-tac-toe board in your viewer and help you position subjects with the rule of thirds – a composition guideline that places your subject on the side of an image, leaving the other two thirds open.

2. PORTRAITS

When shooting portraits of people, bring them forward, away from the object you want to shoot them with – a sign, statue or historical marker – putting the person closest to the camera.

If your phone has it, use portrait mode when shooting people or pets. This makes the image look like it was shot with a long lens, creating a small depth of field with a blurred background.

3. LOW LIGHT

When setting your camera on low light mode, it’s good to rest the phone on an object for stability.

New phones can do incredibly in low light situations, but the best scenes are evenly light. Using the flash will expose the subject that is closest to the camera, but everything else will be dark. Experiment with no flash in dark situations.

4. PANORAMA

Extreme wide images can be a cool effect; they are usually created by starting the panorama and moving the camera across the image.

Pick a scene that has an interesting subject all around and try not to get too much of the sky. If you’re too close to the subject, the image will be extremely distorted.

You can even take vertical panoramas.

5. SHUTTER SPEED

Simply slowing down the shutter speed can create light streaks from moving cars or swift-moving water. It can make for some pretty cool photos.

On an iPhone, you can shoot in Live Mode and then select “long exposure” afterward.

There are apps you can download that can give you full manual control of the camera.

NEW YORK (AP) — To look is to be charmed. Amused. Saddened. Horrified. Amazed. Inspired.

Photographers chronicling life in North America in 2023 captured images that evoked all the emotions, from the giddy silliness of people racing in inflatable dinosaur costumes to the wrenching sorrow of a vigil for victims of a mass shooting.

This gallery from The Associated Press showcases a year that included unprecedented events — such as the first ever criminal indictment of a former president, Donald Trump, in connection to a hush money scheme from his 2016 campaign. Trump was photographed surrounded by security as he was escorted to a Manhattan courtroom in April.

Some of the images focused on issues that the country continues to wrestle with, like immigration at the southern border where people come from around the world in hope of seeking asylum in the United States: A grim-faced man waits while cradling a sleeping child, reminiscent of Dorothea Lange’s iconic 1936 “Migrant Mother”; a small child is passed under concertina wire by the Rio Grande.

A weeping child on a bus, leaving the site of a school shooting in Tennessee, shows the toll of another year of gun violence.

The impacts of climate change are present in a number of images. Canada’s worst wildfire season on record sent haze wafting down into the United States, turning skies as far away as New York City a post-apocalyptic orange. And a furious wildfire on the Hawaiian island of Maui destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina.

But nature’s beauty is there, too, in a sea lion swimming in San Diego’s La Jolla Cove and a puffin carrying food to its chick off the coast of Maine.

Moments of fun and celebration had their place, such as dancers rehearsing for the “2023 Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes,” and the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights crowding together after winning their first Stanley Cup.

There were also those who inspired us: Simone Biles, soaring as she returned to competitive gymnastics and won the U.S. Classic, two years after withdrawing from the Tokyo Olympics to focus on her mental health.

And no gallery would be complete without the woman who may have had the most interesting 2023 of all. There she is, in all her sparkly, record-breaking, history-making glory — Taylor Swift.

___

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With its distinctive Mediterranean flair and famous panoramic views of the Bay and San Francisco’s city skyline, Sausalito is also known for its elegant, Victorian-era homes, rising up woodsy, steep-sided hills, and historic storefronts, many dating to a more rough-and-tumble era in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Massive marinas crowded with sailboats, yachts and colorful houseboats line the town’s waterfront, and a grand promenade with renowned seafood restaurants perched on piers beckon day-trippers with fancy food and sublime views.

It’s this charming storybook setting that has made Sausalito world famous over the years, drawing throngs of weekend tourists, who crowd the shops, art galleries and restaurants lining Bridgeway Boulevard, the town’s main thoroughfare.

At night, however, when most visitors are gone, Sausalito changes personality and reveals an alluring inner charm, thanks to several superb inns, fine dining spots, some lively bars and an enchanting and — dare we say — romantic after-dark ambiance. That’s what makes Sausalito my top choice for a relaxing weekend getaway, especially during the holidays.

For a recent Sausalito weekend escape, we stayed at the luxe Inn Above Tide in the heart of downtown and a stone’s throw from the town’s ferry landing. My wife and I booked the inn’s one-night “Bump Bar” package, one of several enticing gourmet packages offered by the inn. Others include itineraries designed by chef and restaurateur Joanne Weir, for example, and novelist Laura Dave, author of “The Last Thing He Told Me,” which was set and filmed in Sausalito.

We checked into our spacious, ground floor room in the late afternoon. Perched just above the waters edge, the room offered mesmerizing (and you might say dizzying) views of the Bay, with Belvedere and Tiburon, Angel Island, Alcatraz and the East Bay and San Francisco shorelines and skylines in the distance. It was an astonishing and unexpected surprise.

I love Bay Area history, and Sausalito is steeped in historical lore. It’s where the story of San Francisco began with the arrival of the Spanish exploratory vessel, the San Carlos, in the summer of 1775. Spanish land explorers were the first Europeans to discover San Francisco Bay, and when they entered the bay a few years later, they claimed the already-populated region for their empire.

The Spanish sailors moored their vessel at Angel Island and came to the shores of Sausalito for fresh water and to trade with the local indigenous tribe, the Coast Miwok. They named the spring-fed creek where they gathered water “Saucito” for the little willow trees that grew there. The name stuck, and the area eventually became known as Saucelito — eventually anglicized to Sausalito by the first British settler to arrive in the area, William Richardson.

In 1822, Mexico became the new regional sovereign after winning independence from Spain and ruled this small but important port until the Bear Flag revolt in 1846, leading to the subsequent occupation by the U.S. military and eventual cessation to the United States in 1848, just before the mayhem of the California Gold Rush.

This historic Marin landscape was literally the window and deck side view of our “room with a view” at the inn. Fog-kissed Angel Island caught the evening light, as we enjoyed the caviar and bubbly on the deck. Pelicans glided past in formation, and harbor seals played close by. Nighttime arrived, and the visitor crowds vanished, so we headed out on a short, pleasant walk to nearby Caledonia Street and an evening of fine dining at the acclaimed Sushi Ran, one of the Bay Area’s top Japanese restaurants.

After savoring nigiri and sashimi and plates of tempura, hamachi and crab cakes, we walked back to the inn along the Sausalito yacht harbor’s wide wooden boardwalk, taking in the nighttime sights and sounds of the sailboats moored here. At the edge of the marina, we peeked through the windows of Sausalito Books by the Bay and added it to tomorrow’s must-see list, then popped in for a jazz session and a post-dinner drink at the cozy No Name Bar, one of a few old school, local bars that has survived in Marin.

In the morning, the sunrise over Angel Island was just as magical as sunset had been, and we enjoyed the inn’s bountiful continental breakfast of baked goods, fresh fruit, juices, yogurt, coffee and tea, fueling up for a full day of exploration around town. Sausalito is great to explore on foot, and we love to walk, so we decided to head north along Bridgeway.

First stop was the Sausalito Historical Society’s new Ice House Museum, where fascinating displays reveal the area’s varied and colorful past. Continuing north on Bridgeway, we took a close look at several historic 19th and early 20th century arks, houseboats now moored on land on the waterfront. At the newly reimagined Dunphy Park, kayakers and stand-up paddleboarders were launching their craft into the bay, despite the chilly breeze. And nearby, the colorful houseboats of Galilee Harbor provided a revealing look at Sausalito’s famed waterfront community that took shape after World War II and established Sausalito as a magnet for musicians, artists and writers.

Next we visited the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Bay Model, where we saw a massive model of the Bay, displays on the region’s natural history and a fascinating museum on Marinship, the busy shipyard on the Sausalito waterfront during World War II. On a dock just outside the Bay Model, is Sea Trek, Sausalito’s longtime outfitter for kayak and SUP rentals and kayak tours — and a worthy stop for those looking for an on-water Sausalito adventure.

After lunch at nearby Fish, a delightful, casual waterside eatery near the Clipper Yacht Harbor, we visited the Heath Ceramics factory store on Gate Five Road. Heath’s elegant, colorful dinnerware — plates, bowls and cups — and tiles are classic California stoneware, rooted in the crafts movement of the late 1940s and a must-see site in Sausalito.

Walking back to the town center, we diverted off Bridgeway to Caledonia Street, which some locals regard as the real Sausalito. Here we found fun and funky Studio 333, a boutique, gallery and art collective; a local bar called Smitty’s; and some fine restaurants such as Sandrino Pizza & Vino, a stylish, small restaurant offering authentic, thin-crust Italian pizza made by chef-owners Alessandro Spaziani-Montagna and Monika Troggler, who hail from Verona, Italy.

Our long walk brought us back to the center of town, at the tiny but lovely Vina del Mar Plaza, a vestige of San Francisco’s 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition, where we enjoyed sitting by the ornate fountain on a park bench, surrounded by carved elephants, and munching cones of Hawaiian ice cream from Lappert’s located just across the street. It made a sweet finale to our sensational Sausalito weekend getaway.

That said, if you’re looking for a holiday-centric last hurrah, Sausalito can provide that too. You’ll find elaborate gingerbread structures at 27 shops, restaurants and businesses downtown, courtesy of the Chamber of Commerce, which is hosting its 17th annual Gingerbread House Tour from now through Dec. 31. In past years, the confectionary creations have included lighthouses, undersea scenes and a full mock-up of Alcatraz. Admire the sweet architecture, as you browse for gifts and dining inspiration — and make the weekend last a little longer.

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If You Go

Inn Above Tide: Rooms at this luxurious boutique hotel start at $515 per night. 30 El Portal, Sausalito; https://innabovetide.com/

Sushi Ran: Open for dinner daily and lunch Friday-Sunday at 107 Caledonia St.; https://sushiran.com/

Sausalito Books by the Bay: Open daily at 100 Bay St.; www.sausalitobooksbythebay.com/

No Name Bar: Open until 2 a.m. daily at 757 Bridgeway; https://thenonamebar.com/

Ice House Museum: Open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday at 780 Bridgeway; www.sausalitohistoricalsociety.com.

Bay Model Visitor Center: Open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday at 2100 Bridgeway. Find details at www.spn.usace.army.mil under the Missions/Recreation tab.

Sea Trek: Open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday at 2100 Bridgeway; www.seatrek.com/

Fish: Open from 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily at 350 Harbor Drive; www.331fish.com/

Heath Ceramics: The factory store is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at 400 Gate Five Road; www.heathceramics.com/.

Lappert’s Ice Cream: Open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily at 689 Bridgeway; www.lapperts.com.

Gingerbread House Tour: Pick up a map at the Sausalito Chamber of Commerce, 22 El Portal, or download one atwww.sausalito.org/gingerbread-house-tour.

Just consider what awaits you: Emma Stone turns into a twitchy Frankenstein-like creature with a hardy sexual appetite; a flock of evil gargantuan parakeets terrorize in Hayao Miyazaki’s latest animated fable; and a mysterious, life-altering event turns mild-mannered deer into menacing creatures that freak out Julia Roberts.

Here’s our roundup, but a word of advice. It’s best to keep a mind wide open while viewing.

“Poor Things”: Yorgos Lanthimos will never be accused of coasting on his laurels and playing it safe. The Greek filmmaker all but gobsmacked audiences with “The Lobster,” “The Favorite” and “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” and he relishes coloring way outside of conventional narrative lines. And frankly contemporary modern cinema is better for it. His latest is true to form, and is as warped, brilliant and brazenly deluded as the legendary creator that it creatively tips its hat to — Baron von Frankenstein. Mary Shelley’s classic serves as a template for this enterprise, a bonkers, sexy, excessive but thoroughly entertaining odyssey festooned around an outrageously inspired performance from Emma Stone, going for broke right along with Lanthimos.

Stone plays child-like Bella Baxter — BB, for short — a clever double meaning. The Victorian-era Bella has the brain of a child but the bod of a woman. She was brought back to life, pieced together really, by the scarred Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), or God, who, ironically, likes to tinker with animal parts to create something new. Bella develops an unquenchable appetite for knowledge and sex, which leads to a fantastical journey — including a visually spectacular passage on a ship — with leering lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), who wants to possess her for sex and doesn’t want her to become her own person. Broken down in fabulist chapters, the feminist “Poor Things” is certain to offend some viewers, but that’s part of its wacko charm. It’s a rollercoaster ride that curlicues around numerous inspirations (including the fantastical work of director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Jean Cocteau’s “Beauty and the Beast,” Elia Kazan’s “A Streetcar Named Desire” and, of course, James Whale’s/Shelley’s “Frankenstein” to name but a few). But it also tears down the male desire to dominate and shape women around them, a deluded notion aimed to stifle and box in someone like Bella. In “Poor Things,” Bella learns she also harbors the power and smarts to create. And oh how satisfying it is to watch her — and Stone — wield that liberated power. Details: 3½ stars; in theaters Dec. 8.

“The Boy and the Heron”: Hayao Miyazaki’s 12th animated feature is a mesmerizing beauty, even if it doesn’t soar to the same heights as his classics such as “Spirited Away,” “Princess Mononoke,” “Ponyo,” “Howl’s Moving Castle” and others. Still, the justly revered filmmaker’s first feature in 10 years is an entrancing delight, and must be seen on a massive screen to appreciate its visual splendor. Miyazaki mines aspects of his own childhood and centers “Heron” on the grieving-for-his-mom Mahito Maki, a 12-year-old who warily moves to an estate with his father who just wed his dead mom’s sister, Natsuko. Once there, a feisty blue heron with magical properties pesters Mahito with the two eventually entering an alternative realm where evil gargantuan parakeets keep watch over a now kidnapped and pregnant Natsuko. Filled with elegantly rendered imagery that few other animated features could approach, it’s another lovely, lively fable that weaves a magical spell and is filled with ache and layered meaning. The last scene, however, is abrupt and perfunctory unfortunately. Details: 3½ stars; in theaters now.

“Leave the World Behind”: What’s the danger of wanting to exist only in our own individualized bubbles, comfortable spaces we’ve created where “strangers” on the outside aren’t welcome? Well-to-do New Yorkers Amanda (Julia Roberts) and Clay (Ethan Hawke) and their teen-aged son Archie (Charlie Evans) and daughter Rose (Farrah Mackenzie) find out the problem with that ideology when a cataclysmic event disconnects them from the outside world while they’re kicking it at a remote Airbnb. After a harrowing day at the beach where a cargo ship plows into it, a Black man (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter (Myha’la) knock at the rental property and say they live there and want to stay. That’s the tinder-box setup for director/screenwriter Sam (“Mr. Robot”) Esmail’s eerie, uncomfortable-making adaptation of author Rumaan Alam’s apocalyptic novel, which shook us out of our own insular, walled-in shells while reading it in the midst of COVID-19. Executive produced by the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions company (the novel landed on Barack Obama’s 2021 best list), “Leave the World Behind” burrows under the skin and exposes festering racism hidden inside as our so-called “connected” world gets shattered and conspiracy theories and fears abound while nature watches, waits and stares. It’s an unsettling, well-acted experience with layers and cautionary warnings to spare. And it’ll have you looking at your bicuspids afterwards. Details: 3½ stars; drops Dec. 8 on Netflix.

Find of the week

“The Three Musketeers — Part I: D’Artagnan”: You’re first reaction might be: not another one. Alexandre Dumas’ oft-adapted 1844 swashbuckler gets another turn in director/co-screenwriter Martin Bourboulon’s new film. But watch 10 minutes of this action-packed crowd pleaser stuffed with royal intrigue, swordplay and guy camaraderie and you’ll be all in. The cast is ridiculously first class and includes Vincent Cassel as the falsely accused Athos, Eva Green as the slithery Milady de Winter, Louis Garrel as the threatened King Louis XIII, Romain Duris as the charmer Aramis and François Civil as the cocky D’Artagnan. The production values are exquisite, the cinematography gorgeous and the fighting sequences exciting. It’s on a par with Richard Lester’s 1972 version, and that is saying something. Details: 3½ stars; available On Demand; Part II will be released next year.

“Eileen”: Seasonally appropriate in a strange and twisted way, this dark, dark noir — set near Boston during Christmastime in the 1960s — is cut from the same pulpy antihero cloth favored by such iconic crime writers as Jim Thompson and Patricia Highsmith. Like the works of those genre specialists, “Eileen” coughs up a dim view of human nature. Director William Oldroyd’s shadowy psychological thriller is adapted from Ottessa Moshfegh’s serpentine, character-driven 2015 novel of the same name, a Booker Prize finalist that earned praise for its unique voice. Moshfegh adapted her novel for the screen with writer Luke Goebel, and the duo have produced one of the smartest screenplays of 2023, one that presents Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway with juicy parts. McKenzie sheds all innocence to play the title character, a voyeuristic 24-year-old caregiver to a belittling and drunken dad (Shea Whigham). She’s mesmerized by the striking entrance of flashy new counselor Rebecca (Hathaway, in full femme fatale mode) who drives into the office parking lot that’s full of beige and boring autos in a sporty red car. Rebecca’s unorthodox ways and professional practices tantalize Eileen and turn many heads, naturally. As they two get closer, “Eileen” hits you at the two-thirds point with a huge surprise — it’s not a wowza, and it works, as does just about everything else in this demented and twisty thriller. Details: 3½ stars; opens Dec. 8 in San Francisco, opens wider next week.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.

For a list of notable newsmaker and celebrity deaths in 2023, click here.

And on Tuesday, the exact date that the ship had made its stop in 1773, organizers commemorating the semiquincentennial marked the milestone with a grave marker ceremony at Granary Burying Ground where they recognized Samuel Adams and John Hancock as architects of the Tea Party.

Though they did not throw British tea overboard into Boston Harbor, Adams and Hancock were lead organizers for the Sons of Liberty which perpetuated the protest against taxation without representation, said Evan O’Brien, creative manager of the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum.

The brief ceremonies, which drew a healthy crowd despite Tuesday’s blustery conditions, marked the final two in a five-year long effort in honoring 140 revolutionary figures connected to the Tea Party, O’Brien said. He attended every single one of them, some of which entailed him going abroad for remembrances in Ireland and Paris.

“As we rapidly approach the 250th anniversary of the Tea Party, we are reminded that this story is not a dead story,” O’Brien said. “Sure, these folks are long since gone … but what they believed in, what they fought for are things we are still living and breathing now.”

— Lance Reynolds

This week we check out a contender for that title,  Alexander Payne’s seasonally appropriate — for December — “The Holdovers.”

Take that perennial Christmas chestnut you watch time and time again. Sprinkle in elements of “Dead Poets Society.” Then let someone like the late filmmaker Hal Ashby, who graced us with “Harold and Maude,” baste it and bake it.

That somewhat conveys what you have with Alexander Payne’s holiday-themed treat, a droll but fragile character study about three loners stuck together in 1970 at a snowy New England prep school during what’s allegedly the “most wonderful time of the year.”

Payne has always specialized in giving us multi-dimensional, quirky individuals, characters you sometimes like and sometimes simply can’t stand. In essence, they’re flawed and act an awful lot like you and me. That’s true of the trio that screenwriter David Hemingson crafts with such genuine and delicate care. They include a crabby professor (Paul Giamatti, who had his breakthrough role in Payne’s “Sideways) whose pontifical retorts are often anchored to arcane historical references that no one can understand; a grieving Black chef (Da’Vine Joy Randolph, channeling every genuine emotion the script calls for) spending her first Christmas without her son, killed in Vietnam; and a brainy but volatile teen (Dominic Sessa, a welcome newcomer) who got pawned off by his mom and her new and wealthy husband.

They are very different people with a common ailment: each is nursing deep-seated pain.

It’s one of Payne’s best funny-sad films, and it’s steeped in a nostalgic fondness for early ‘70s filmmaking — evident in the throwback credits and in the film’s faded color palette and unrushed pacing. That does mean it takes its meandering time to get to the “meat” of the story — if you can call it that — but patience proves out as “Holdovers” fleshes out its leads and reveals their secrets and the intense feelings inside each of them.

For that reason and others (including the soundtrack), “The Holdovers” is way tastier than your average holiday movie leftovers. Payne brings to the vast tableau of Christmas films a departure — a  movie about  three lonely people having a dickens of a time connecting and dealing with their feelings until they get thrown together to find comfort and joy from each other. And isn’t that exactly what the holidays are supposed to do? Details: 3½ stars out of 4; in theaters Nov. 3.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.

Oh, yeah.

Here’s our roundup.

“The Fall of the House of Usher”: It’s risky to modernize or repurpose classic literary works and try to create something unique and visionary in the process. Even Oscar-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón failed with a misguided “Great Expectations,” starring Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow.

But upscale horror filmmaker Mike Flanagan could write a textbook on how to do it right with his eight-part ode to legendary horror writer Edgar Allan Poe. This inspired “Usher” infuses Poe’s tales of terror with contemporary relevance and respects the source material.

Flanagan’s macabre update of Poe’s story of familial depravity and madness serves as a table setting for an “And Then There Were None” schematic in which the ones getting picked off are soulless members of a privileged, uber-wealthy family that has built its pillar of wealth by addicting Americans to painkillers.

Lording over this dynasty is a vile twosome with a rotten childhood to say the least: brother Roderick (the underrated Bruce Greenwood) and his conniving sister Madeline (the equally underrated Mary McDonnell).

Ostensibly, Roderick is the patriarch in charge but he has a hard time corralling his narcissistic adult children (inheritors), all of whom have kinky dark sides that lead them down the bloody road to a Poe-inspired fate. Flanagan wrote or co-wrote all but one episode, and the writing is as razor-blade sharp and bloody clever as with his signature works, Netflix’s “The Haunting of Hill House,” “Midnight Mass” and the underrated standalone film “Doctor Sleep.”

The creepy production values are top-notch and the scares are not only frightening but disturbing. (“Usher” is more gory and loads up on more sex than Flanagan’s past series). The cast is consistently strong and features Mark Hamill going gruff as the extra-busy Usher lawyer Arthur Pym, who attempts to mop up the family’s many messes. Another treat is seeing Flanagan regular Carla Gugino as a mysterious presence popping up throughout the lives of Roderick and Madeline. It all makes for ghoulish fun that’s well-suited for the upcoming Halloween season. Make no mistake, though, this isn’t just a bingeworthy streamer; “The Fall of the House of Usher” just so happens to be one of the best series Netflix has ever produced. Details: 4 stars out of 4; all episodes drop Oct. 13.

“Lessons in Chemistry”: Ask any book club member to choose one of their favorite novels from 2022 and chances are Bonnie Garmus’ beguiling novel featuring a quirky brainiac with one of the best names ever — Elizabeth Zott — will pop up on that list. While the misfortune was mine for not reading it beforehand, I will definitely do so after watching showrunner Lee Eisenberg’s moving eight-part adaptation for Apple TV+.

I can see why “Lessons in Chemistry” found a favored spot on bookshelves everywhere. But as fans know, divulging too much about what happens to Elizabeth (played to the eccentric hilt by Oscar winner Brie Larson) would be a recipe for hate mail. Suffice to say she stars as a brilliant chemist whose career is blotted by the patriarchy ruling the science world of the ‘50s. What can be also be said is that there is great chemistry between Larsen and Lewis Pullman as hot-shot chemist Calvin Evans who shares the same passion as she and is just as equally socially awkward. A turn of events upends their careers and leads the resilient Elizabeth on a path to a subversive cooking show. “Lessons in Chemistry” could have been tighter (trimmed to six episodes), and a subplot about Black neighbor Harriet (Aja Naomi King) fighting racial injustice could be more developed. Still, “Chemistry” comes up with a winning formula in the end. And one episode that gets told from the perspective of the family dog Six Thirty (voice of B.J. Novak) tears you up — particularly if you’re a pet owner. Details: 3 stars; two episodes drop Oct. 13, with a new episode dropping every Friday through Nov. 24.

“Foe”: What unfolded well on paper doesn’t fare so well on screen in Garth Davis’ misguided but very good-looking version of Iain Reid’s ambitious sci-fi-tinged psychological drama. Its central premise about a stranger (Aaron Pierre) making an extraordinary offer that calls into the question the relationship of an isolated couple (Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan) in a farmhouse and separates them for an extended period of time is indeed intriguing, but the unpredictable turns in the screenplay — written by Davis and Reid — wind up ringing false and unraveling into a pretentious, impenetrable mess. There are big themes explored here — including AI — but the should-be unsettling material gets way too cluttered and at times becomes laughable, disconnecting us from the plight of these two, who seem to use up a hell of a lot of water during a drought that’s killing off the planet. That is just one of the puzzling aspects of a production that unfortunately squanders the talents of Mescal and Ronan and its gorgeous production values. Just read the book. Details: 1½ stars; opens Oct. 13 in San Francisco theaters and Oct. 20 at the Piedmont Theatre in Oakland.

“Castlevania: Nocturne”: In eight briskly told animated episodes, showrunners Kevin Kolde and Clive Bradley relocate the popular vampire streaming series in the French Revolution with vampire hunter Richter Belmont (voiced by Edward Bluemel) taking on a nasty batch of aristocrats preying on poor people. The action does get bloody and features a batch of new and intriguing characters, including the gay Olrox (voice of Zahn McClarnon of “The Dark Winds” series), an Aztec bloodsucker responsible for the death of Richter’s mom. He too senses that something major and ominous is in the works, and doesn’t like it. My only beef about this intricately plotted season is that its eighth episode lacks a true ending, making us gnash our teeth for another season. Fortunately, we’ll get it since Netflix just announced “Nocturne” has been renewed. Details: 3 stars; available now on Netflix.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.