The latest releases reviewed by Donald Clarkeand Michael Dwyer

Directed by Shane Meadows. Starring Thomas Turgoose, Stephen Graham, Jo Hartley, Andrew Shim, Vicky McClure, Joe Gilgun, Rosamund Hanson 18 cert

*****

Shane Meadows confirms his place as a great English film- maker with this drama following a young boy's indoctrination into the skinhead movement just as it is infiltrated by right-wing racists. Treating the 1980s with a combination of nostalgia and disgust, the picture thrives on a stunning lead performance from young Turgoose. The excellent two-disc edition features interviews galore.

Directed by John Curran. Starring Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Sally Hawkins, Toby Jones, Diana Rigg 12 cert

***

Decent if somewhat unadventurous adaptation of a Somerset Maugham novel following a doctor and his unfaithful wife as they bicker their way about a cholera- ridden province of central China. Norton is not convincing as an Englishman. But Watts does good work as a woman facing up to unwelcome truths. Extras on the DVD are basic. DC

Directed by Mike Binder. Starring Joan Allen, Kevin Costner, Erika Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt 15 cert

***

Solid drama following the romance between Allen's boozy, deserted wife and Costner's boozy, washed-up ballplayer. Though blandly shot and featuring overly complacent characters, the film does deliver some moving moments. Ultimately it comes across like a promising pilot for a classy HBO television series.

Directed by Aki Kaurismäki. Starring Janna Hyytiäinen, Maria Heiskanen, Ilkka Koivula PG cert

The idiosyncratic Finnish director concludes his trilogy on socially marginalised outsiders with a bleak picture of a doleful Helsinki security guard who proves easy prey for exploitation. Kaurismäki clearly empathises with this personification of weakness in society, but the film is short on the substance and emotional involvement that marked its predecessors in the trilogy. Not given a cinema release here, it goes directly to DVD. MD

Directed by Ben Garant. Starring Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon, Kerri Kenney, Niecy Nash, Mary Birdsong, Danny DeVito 15 cert

**

Amiably baggy, thrown together feature version of a Comedy Central show focusing on a body of incompetent police officers. The comedians do manage to devise the odd worthwhile routine. But after half an hour of sloppy mayhem, even the most easygoing viewer may begin to wonder why these guys believe that they don't have to work for a living. The DVD is proudly "uncut".