Wow, two movies that aren’t about time-travel! (#SFWApro)

ALL ABOUT EVE (1950) is one of TYG’s favorite movies so we caught it at a local revival house. While I’m not as attached to it as she is, no question the story of super-star stage actor Margo Channing (Bette Davis) coping with a devoted acolyte (Anne Baxter) who’s cold-bloodedly scheming toward her own stardom crackles with good dialog (“You can almost hear the bloodhounds cracking at her heels.”), and enough backstabbing, feuds and quarreling to fill out a season of prime-time soap opera. The ending where it’s implied Eve will get her comeuppance down the road didn’t work for me, though—it’s neat visually, but I have enough respect for Eve that I don’t see her falling for someone else’s schemes (she’s so noirish at times I wouldn’t be surprised if her adversaries wound up mysterious dead at some point). George Sanders is a malevolent critic, Celeste Holme is Davis’ best friend, Marilyn Monroe has a breakthrough part as an aspiring actress and Thelma Ritter plays Davis’ tart-tongued maid. “There’s no playwright in the world who could make believe this thing could happen between two adult people.”

AVENGERS II: The Age of Ultron (2014) has Tony trying to develop a robot peacekeeping force using Hydra technology only to have things to terribly wrong (surprise!) leading to the birth of Ultron (James Spader) an unstoppable AI determined to impose peace on humanity even if it kills us. In many ways I think this is the most comic-book of recent comic-book movies with doomed romances, heavy continuity (I’m sure some viewers were wondering who Sam Wilson at Tony’s party is) and spectacular Clashes of Titans—though TYG found the emphasis on action over character a turn-off and walked out before the finish. I thoroughly enjoyed it despite minor quibbles, such as the Vision’s power-set (making him generically strong and powerful without, apparently, the abilities of his comic-book self) and the revelation Natasha can’t have kids (couldn’t she just not want kids? Some women actually don’t). “I’m glad you want to take this time to talk, as I was hoping for a moment to tell you my evil plan.”