Awaydays

In late 1970s Merseyside, Paul (Nicky Bell) lives with his father and sister in a middle-class suburb. He is 19, funny, good-looking, and bored to bits by his life as a civil servant. When he meets Elvis (Liam Boyle) at a football match, Paul is offered the chance of getting into The Pack, a legendary local gang.

Kevin Maher, the Times: Even the movie's much-vaunted and allegedly controversial fight scenes are only half-compelling, though possibly crippled by the low budget. The sight of six extras dressed as policemen wrestling with two dozen actors in a Liverpool sidestreet never quite conveys the rampant terror of 1970s hooliganism. And still, despite everything, Awaydays has power. Boyle, like a younger, leaner Daniel Craig, demolishes close-ups. (Verdict: three stars out of five)

Neil Smith, Total Film: Cue much Stanley knife-related mayhem, homoerotic tension and some Trainspotting-style heroin taking to the strains of such post-punk icons as Magazine, The Cure and Joy Division. To its credit, Awaydays does not glamorise its hooligans the way The Football Factory and Green Street did. Even so, given its fascination with their Adidas trainers, green cagoules, drainpipe jeans and wedge haircuts, it does come perilously close to fetishising them. (Verdict: two stars out of five) ·