IT seems like only yesterday that Batman v Superman was winding its noisy way through cinemas but it is now set to be joined by another superhero smackdown of epic proportions as Marvel flexes its muscles.

Here are the best and the worst of this week's film releases.

New releases

Captain America: Civil War (Cert:12A, 147 mins)

The fragile alliance between the Avengers is shattered in the third Captain America film, directed at a breathless pace by brothers Joe and Anthony Russo.

Scriptwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely repeatedly inhabit the blurred lines between heroism and villainy, examining the moral conundrums faced by superpowered warriors who have pledged to protect the innocent from the righteous crossfire.

Alas, no one emerges unscathed from the melee and the deep psychological wounds inflicted in these bombastic 147 minutes suggest that this muscular chapter signals a bittersweet end for some characters while blatantly teeing up standalone spin-offs for Spider-Man and Black Panther.

Demolition (Cert:15, mins)

Nowhere is grief more structured than in Hollywood.

There, grief is either a granite albatross weighing the sufferer down until eventually they crack and, more often than not, scream at a coldly beautiful landscape until finally, their artful tears fall, or, it is quite the opposite; it is a fully formed thing from the offset.

Demolition, the new comedy drama from Wild and Dallas Buyers Club director Jean-Marc Vallee, then offers neither trope for its anti hero, Davis Mitchell (Jake Gyllenhaal).

It's not a version of grief any of the dearly departed would want for their loved ones.

While sentimentality could be rife, Demolition avoids it largely due to the welcome flashes of humour and thoughtful performances from Gyllenhaal and his young co-star Judah Lewis, but it's just a shame that Naomi Watts is underwritten.

Still in cinemas

Friend Request (Cert:15, 92 mins)

The world of cyber-horror is one littered with terribly unimaginative attempts to depict the bizarre ubiquity of social media in a way that delivers big screen scares.

It's shocking then that, so soon after last year's surprisingly inventive Unfriended, social media is once again mined to great effect in director Simon Verhoeven's shlocky, but entertaining Friend Request.

The dialogue is ripe and many of the scares thoroughly conventional, but there are moments of genuine tension and surprise littered throughout the story, which offers a wry commentary on the importance of social networks.

It's a little too by-the-numbers at times but, when the distinctly modern flourishes come, they leave a clear impact in their wake.

Bastille Day (Cert:15, 92 mins)

Idris Elba auditions for Bond in this bruising Euro-actioner set around a bomb blast in Paris. 

Elba's CIA agent, stationed in the French capital, teams with Game of Thrones alumnus Richard Madden, playing a sharp-tongued pickpocket who inadvertantly becomes involved in the terrorist plot.

There's nothing here that breaks the mould and the American accents are often laughable, but the story zips along nicely and there are a couple of solid twists in the tail.

It's also tough not to be entertained by Elba, who is in his element as a gruff-voiced agent more interested in cracking heads than cracking the case.