Reboots on reboots

Another oldie returns, writes Chris Lackner.

MOVIES

Big releases (Oct. 5): A Star is Born; Venom

Big picture: A Star is Born is the fourth take on a story about star-crossed talents headed in opposite directions — even as they are drawn to each other. (The first was 1937, then again in 1954, before the well-received Barbra Streisand vehicle in 1976.) It seems the story is eternal: a love is born as a star fades and another rises. In the 2018 edition, Ally (Lady Gaga) goes from rags-to-riches when famous singer Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) falls for her — and puts her on the stage beside him. It’s like Crazy Heart meets Romeo and Juliet meets Walk the Line. Venom, meanwhile, makes Deadpool look like an anti-hero schoolboy. Eddy Brock (Tom Hardy) is a reporter who gains extraordinary powers after being joined with an alien symbiote. Venom is out for himself and out for blood, but can Eddy reel in his alter ego enough to become an unlikely, violent protector? When the space monster emerges, Venom looks like the unlikely offspring of a threesome between Lost’s smoke monster, Ridley Scott’s Alien and an oilpatch.

Forecast: In Venom, an unlikely star is born. On a personal note, I am emboldened by yet another journalist with super powers! I predict I will spend much of the weekend looking for black alien goo or radioactive spiders (sadly, this was an easy call because it’s how I spend most weekends).