Blue Beetle (12A, 127 mins)

Verdict: Different - until it's not

Rating:

Strays (15, 93 mins)

Verdict: New dogs, old tricks

Rating:

They've done Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Even Aquaman and Shazam. But now, in DC Comics' ongoing struggle to have a cinematic universe to rival Marvel's, it is finally the turn of Blue Beetle. You know, the one who's blue. And a beetle.

Who am I kidding? Being one of those cool, attractive, literary sorts who reads a lot of comics, I know perfectly well who Blue Beetle is. But I imagine others might be in a different position, so here's an explainer.

In this incarnation of the character, Blue Beetle is a 20-something guy called Jaime Reyes who's been bonded with an alien artefact, the scarab, that gives him terrific strength, dexterity, durability, weaponry, the power of flight … all the usual. And, yes, when dressed in his amazo-suit, he is blue. And he does look rather like a beetle.

Now, in DC Comics' ongoing struggle to have a cinematic universe to rival Marvel's, it is finally the turn of Blue Beetle. You know, the one who's blue. And a beetle

In a way, the most significant thing about him might be that surname: Reyes. Blue Beetle is a Mexican superhero in a world where Mexican superheroes are outnumbered by ones from the planet Krypton

In this incarnation of the character, Blue Beetle is a 20-something guy called Jaime Reyes who's been bonded with an alien artefact, the scarab, that gives him terrific strength, dexterity, durability, weaponry, the power of flight

But, in a way, the most significant thing about him might be that surname: Reyes. Blue Beetle is a Mexican superhero in a world where Mexican superheroes are outnumbered by ones from the planet Krypton.

When Jaime returns home from university at the beginning of the film, he and his family switch unthinkingly between English and Spanish — with subtitles phasing in and out accordingly. It really shouldn't be one of the most startling things that's ever happened in a superhero movie. But it is.

The relationship between Reyes (played with laidback charisma by Xolo Mariduena) and his family is at the heart of the movie.

We meet his mum, dad and sister, but the standouts - even if they sometimes stand out a little too loudly - are Nana Reyes (Adriana Barraza) and cuddly paranoiac Uncle Rudy (George Lopez).

They've all been given a kicking by society, though they're handling it defiantly - 'Batman is a fascist!' cries Uncle Rudy - until the scarab rattles into their lives.

Then the security state, in the form of Kord Industries, decides to give them a kicking, too. They want the alien tech for themselves so that … yadda, yadda, yadda.

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It's such a shame when that yadda, yadda, yadda intrudes on Reyes and his family. It's when Blue Beetle starts to feel just like every other superhero movie. There's an insipid love interest. A baddie whose grand plan isn't nearly as horrific as Susan Sarandon's gawping, gurning performance as that same baddie. And a henchman who turns into a big robotic thing that can almost match Blue Beetle jump for jump, beam for beam and grunt for grunt.

It all ends, of course, in a big CGI scrap featuring wall-busting punches that somehow feel like nothing. Batman, a fascist? Maybe. But what does that make all these copy-cats? Sorry, copy-beetles.

As Scooby-Doo would say: ruh-roh. Anyone going into canine movie Strays expecting Lady And The Tramp be warned: tonally, it's closer to Reservoir Dogs. A sweary, gross-out comedy whose trailer didn't just make it look painfully unfunny — but like another step on the way to the end of civilisation.

As Scooby-Doo would say: ruh-roh. Anyone going into canine movie Strays expecting Lady And The Tramp be warned: tonally, it's closer to Reservoir Dogs

The story concerns a dog called Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell) who believes that his heavy-drinking, heavy, er, self-pleasuring owner, Doug (Will Forte), actually cares about him

Yet, now that I've actually seen it, Strays isn't as bad as all that. In parts, it's even … good? A three-minute trailer could never capture its delights. You need to spend time with these dogs to get their deal and become inured to their base brand of humour.

And, oh, my gosh, it really is base. The story concerns a dog called Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell) who believes that his heavy-drinking, heavy, er, self-pleasuring owner, Doug (Will Forte), actually cares about him.

Until, that is, Doug dumps Reggie miles from home, leaving him with Bug (the excellent voice of Jamie Foxx) and a bunch of other street pooches. Together, they hatch a plan for Reggie to get his revenge - by biting off Doug's … wotsit.

The gags come constantly. And given how many of them involve sick and other bodily excretions, gag truly is the word. But there are a few gems among them, including one delirious, drug-induced sequence in which our strays tear apart a pile of rabbit soft toys … or are they?

Doug dumps Reggie miles from home, leaving him with Bug (the excellent voice of Jamie Foxx) and a bunch of other street pooches

Weirdly, though, the most impressive thing about Strays is how seriously you take these mutts. Whatever tech has merged real dogs with moving mouths and computer-drawn acrobatics, it's a miracle. You'll believe a dog can cuss.

In fact, it's only when the swearing stops that Strays' real problems begin. Like most modern American comedies, it wants to have its cake and spew it up, too - with a lot of moralising and sentimentality in between all the penis jokes. Friendship is good, it turns out, as is being true to yourself. Who knew?

Still, Strays does have at least one useful moral, so perhaps we can forgive it: sometimes, in life, you really do have to bite a guy in the … attitude problem.

Forbidden love in Cognac country? Cue a Gallic shrug...

Lie With Me (15, 98 mins)

Verdict: L'opera de soap

Rating:

The Idiots (18, 117 mins)

Verdict: Shock and awe

Rating:

Serpico (15, 130 mins)

Verdict: Pacino's best

Rating:

A middle-aged novelist returns to the Cognac-distilling pastures of his youth, where he reflects on an old tryst and the passage of time and all that.

So far, so standard. And so, so French. Except there's a twist in Lie With Me, of sorts. The tryst was a gay one, conducted when both the novelist, Stephane Belcourt, and his lover were 17 - and now, some 35 years later, the former lover's son works for the Cognac house where Belcourt's doing a speaking gig.

The film has two time periods. There's the past, where younger Belcourt makes gooey eyes at the father (Julien De Saint Jean). And there's the present, where older Belcourt makes - at first, it seems - gooey eyes at the son (Victor Belmondo).

So far, so standard. And so, so French. Except there's a twist in Lie With Me, of sorts. The tryst was a gay one, conducted when both the novelist, Stephane Belcourt, and his lover were 17

Now, some 35 years later, the former lover's son works for the Cognac house where Belcourt's doing a speaking gig

Both Belcourt actors, Guillaume de Tonquedec (the elder) and Jeremy Gillet (the younger), wring charming performances out of what could be unforgiving material. Though you can't help but wonder: in service of what? Lie With Me has some piercing things to say about homophobia and expectations in rural France, but for the most part it feels like a slightly elevated form of soap opera.

In the end, it's hard not to respond as they might in Cognac itself. With a Gallic shrug.

Larsvon Trier's The Idiots was shocking when it first came out, in 1998. It could be even more shocking on its re-release in 2023. Von Trier's faux-­documentary style is pretty standard nowadays. But his subject matter - a commune of people who pretend to be mentally ill - is, er, not. Why do those people do it? Money, activism, friendship, easy - and, here, famously unsimulated - sex? Or all of the above?

The Idiots neither confirms nor denies, instead preferring to blur every line there is. The result is a movie that's shocking in a way that makes us see things differently, rather than just shocking for shocking's sake

For those who prefer their classics to be rather more classical, there's another restored re-release this week: Sidney Lumet's 1973 masterpiece Serpico

The Idiots neither confirms nor denies, instead preferring to blur every line there is. The result is a movie that's shocking in a way that makes us see things differently, rather than just shocking for shocking's sake - like much of Von Trier's later stuff. (Up to and including his online plea, this week, for a new '­girlfriend and muse'.)

For those who prefer their classics to be rather more classical, there's another restored re-release this week: Sidney Lumet's 1973 masterpiece Serpico.

Sure, Al Pacino's brilliant in The Godfather and Dog Day Afternoon, but, for my money, it's his performance here - as Frank Serpico, the real-life, hard-edged crusading cop with a soft, hippyish exterior - that's his finest.