Blue Beetle ★★★☆☆
Directed by Ángel Manuel Soto. Starring Xolo Maridueña, Adriana Barraza, Damián Alcázar, Raoul Max Trujillo, Susan Sarandon, George Lopez. 12A cert, gen release, 127 min
The final film in the DC Extended Universe before it becomes the DC Universe (do keep up) stars Maridueña as a young graduate who gets mysteriously transformed into the eponymous superbeing. It looks as if DC is attempting to sell Blue Beetle as a Latino equivalent of Black Panther. It seems unlikely the obscure superhero will have similar impact, but the celebrations of that culture are the best things in the film. The final act is the usual boring fight in the sky. The effects are alienating. Heaven alone knows what Sarandon is up to as the rapacious villain. Full review DC
T.I.M. ★★★☆☆
Directed by Spencer Brown. Starring Georgina Campbell, Mark Rowley, Eamon Farren, Amara Karan, Nathaniel Parker, Tom Bell. Netflix, 100 min
Pitched somewhere between Demon Seed and The Servant, this chilly British sci-fi concerns a humanoid robot designed to perform household duties, schedule business meetings and confirm the viewers’ very worst fears about AI. This is a canny film about the uncanny valley, punctuated by fears that don’t yet have specific names and phobias, including Deep Fake horror scenarios and “that feeling when one’s phone shills for something you just thought about”. Director Brown is little more judicious in his use of the robot-amuck terror than Blumhouse’s M3GAN, preferring Luddite-themed jolts. Full review TB
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Strays ★★☆☆☆
Directed by Josh Greenbaum. Voices of Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Sofía Vergara. 16 cert, gen release, 93 min
Ferrell voices a border terrier called Reggie who lives in awkward equilibrium with an onanistic stoner (Will Forte). After several feeble attempts to dump the creature, this Doug eventually drives across the state and abandons Reggie in a needle-strewn alley. He falls in with a gang of foul-mouthed canine reprobates who lead him into all sorts of filthy mischief. As you may gathered, Strays is not a kids’ film. It’s also not very good. Inconsistent internal logic. Too talky (or “barky”?). None of this would matter if the jokes were not so painfully unamusing. Full review DC
The Future Tense ★★★☆☆
Directed by Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor. Featuring Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor, Molly Rose Lawlor, Derry Lawlor, Kevin Barry. MubiI, 89 min
“Should [we] make it clear that if it wasn’t for the pandemic, we wouldn’t be sitting here?” Lawlor asks early in this documentary: “That we had two proper actors booked in to play us?” Two organising principles kick in during this pleasingly meandering stream of consciousness: the flight from Stansted to Dublin, a journey that the filmmaking duo known professionally as the Desperate Optimists have undertaken many times. The second concept is borrowed from the essayist Rebecca Solnit: “In different places, different thoughts emerge.” Lawlor and Molloy make for hugely likable company, and their gallimaufry of musings is as warm and witty as they are. Full review TB
