When it comes to trying to make you cry, there are no safe havens in “Safe Haven.” The latest film based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks — the author who’s elicited more tears than an onion factory — includes plot points of spousal abuse, cancer, cute kids, children in peril, a hunk with a […]

PORTLAND — If you haven’t already, be sure to take time to check out the exhibition “Dan DenDanto and Frank DenDanto: BUMP,” on view through April 7 at the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art. And with school vacation week at hand, be sure to bring your kids. This is very much […]

MARYANNE O’HARA

LOS ANGELES — During her four seasons gliding through “Dancing With the Stars” in skintight, bedazzled bodysuits and spray tans, professional ballroom dancer Julianne Hough confidently guided an Olympic gold medalist and an Indianapolis 500 champion to victory. Getting Hollywood directors to consider her a true leading lady, however, hasn’t been easy. “When people’s primary […]

In ‘Wine Maniacs,’ Layne Witherell pulls 30 years of advice and adventures out of the many hats he’s worn in the industry.

Go north, young men. And women. To 45 North. The Sugarloaf Mountain ski resort has just added this first-rate restaurant to its heretofore less-than-stellar mix (that includes the region, which has been weak in noteworthy restaurants since the Porter House in Eustis closed). 45 North, so named because the mountain sits at this latitude, occupies […]

The printed program for “A Night at the Movies,” the Feb. 23-24 Pops! concerts of the Portland Symphony Orchestra, was as fascinating as those ancient maps with a blank space for uncharted territory. What were they going to play, and by whom? (The program, selected by guest conductor Carl Topilow, has since appeared on the […]

When music producer Jeff Bhasker — the mastermind behind fun.’s breakthrough — had thoughts of becoming a musician, the high school student in the jazz band figured he would play keyboard for a talented singer looking to carve a space in the musical universe. “In the jazz world you become a sideman, say with like […]

Art “Between Past and Present: The Homer Studio Photographic Project,” contemporary photography made with historic processes, through Feb. 17; Lois Dodd: “Catching the Light,” career retrospective — 1955-2012 — for the Maine painter, through April 7; and “Voices of Design” — 25 Years of Architalx, interactive exhibition that showcases the power of design, through May […]