The Stephens family saw three films during Christmas. One we recommend for home viewing and or taking your grand children to see and the other two films are definitely wait for home viewing unless you value history over entertainment.

Mary Poppins came out originally in 1964. Apparently at age 19 I was considerably more innocent and easy to entertain than today. I will say both the leading female and male actors did a splendid job but it wasn’t enough to stave off the sheer boredom of the first hour and fifteen minutes. The film finished on a high note but not high enough for me to recommend it to adults. On the way out we saw our friend Pam and she was so excited and thought it was better than the original. In full disclosure Pam is one of the most enthusiastic people I know. So if you are innocent and enthusiastic and or have younger children or grand children (PG) take them for a family outing. Otherwise wait for home viewing.

Mary Queen of Scots. I can’t believe this slow, tedious and often confusing attempt at History opened in the theater. Netflix or Amazon is where this belongs so you can get up and walk around and talk with friends or your family if you are into that kind of thing. The acting by the two leading ladies was very good but other than that this film is a dog – meaning no offense to Scottish Terriers.

Tony really likes the actors in Vice and he thought they did great work in their roles. That said he texted me half way through the film and said Dad don’t see this film until its on home viewing. He found it boring and from his review it sounded like a good history lesson if you are doing a term paper on the Bush era but did not qualify as entertaining.