In theaters: The Sweeney

In theaters: Cops and robbers

Based on the mid-1970s British TV series of the same name, The Sweeney (eOne), is a fast-paced and violent cops and robbers drama, set in present day London. The Sweeney Flying Squad, an unorthodox police unit, led by hardboiled Jack Regan (Ray Winstone), are known for their unusual (and questionable) methods and tactics. They think nothing of the collateral damage from their various raids and rescues because they always "get the villains."

But Jack and his crew are meeting resistance from chief Haskins (Damian Lewis of Homeland) and by-the-book internal affairs man Lewis (Steven Mackintosh), according to whom The Sweeney has legal cases mounting against them. Of course, Regan's ongoing extramarital affair with Lewis's wife Nancy (Hayley Atwell), a fellow member of The Sweeney, might have something to do with his vendetta against Jack.

So while the personal pissing contest remains to be settled, a series of high profile hold-ups, including a jewelry store and a bank, have the attention of the law enforcement officers. It's up to Regan and his Sweeney crew to stop criminal mastermind Allen (Paul Anderson) and his gun-crazy Serbian cohorts before more lives are lost and more loot is stolen. The Sweeney would benefit from losing about 30 minutes. As usual, shootouts and car chases go on longer than necessary. None of the performances are particularly stellar, but watching the solving of the crime mystery does have entertainment value.

At home: Serenely independent

Depending on who you ask, Amy (Melanie Lynskey) is either temporarily staying (according to her) or living (according to her unfeeling mother Ruth, played by Blythe Danner) at her parents' house in Connecticut in the dark comedy Hello I Must Be Going (Oscilloscope). Following her divorce, Amy is having what she describes as "a hard time at the moment." How hard? She hasn't left the house in three months. Her first attempt at doing so, to visit her brother Noah (Daniel Eric Gold), sister-in-law Missy (Sara Chase) and niece Caley, leads to her vomiting in the backseat of her father Stan's (John Rubinstein) Infiniti.

Ruth and Stan are depending on Amy to pull it together for one specific occasion. They are hosting a dinner for potential new clients of Stan's law firm. If he lands the job, he can make back some of the money he lost in the stock market, retire and let Noah take over the business. Stan and Ruth can travel and complete the renovations on their home. Those are a lot of ifs and Amy isn't really up to the task. Even going shopping to find something nice to wear for the dinner is loaded with drama. Amy runs into former high school classmate Karen (Meera Simhan) at a store and her social awkwardness prevails. After the long walk home from the shopping district, Amy faints in the driveway at home.

At the dinner, Amy meets Jeremy (Christopher Abbott of Girls), the 19 year old stepson of prospective client Larry (Damian Young) and his therapist wife Gwen (Julie White). Jeremy, a former child TV star turned stage actor, and Amy make an unexpected connection and before you know it they are making out in a dark room. Here's the thing, Jeremy's mother think he's gay and he's done nothing to dissuade her from thinking that. So when Amy and Jeremy begin their clandestine May/December sexual relationship, they are able to keep it going longer than either of them would have imagined. Even when they are caught skinny-dipping by Gwen, the situation has a crazy innocence.

Hello I Must Be Going, whose title comes from a song in one of the Marx Brothers movies that Amy and Stan used to stay up late watching when she was a child, takes on a few different subjects, some with more success than others. The parent/child relationship portions (including the dumb things parents say to others about their children right in front of them, as well as the cruelty they can display in private) play believably. Even the relationship between Amy and Jeremy, with its considerable age span, feels authentic, which is probably because of the characters' differing levels of maturity.

What doesn't ring true is Amy's transition, not due to Lynskey's performance which is captivating, but because certain elements – Amy's quest to hit bottom before turning her life around, her puzzling relationship with ex-husband David (Dan Futterman) – feel incomplete and forced. But those are minor quibbles for a movie as endearing as this one. DVD special features include interviews with Lynskey, director Todd Louiso and screenwriter Sarah Koskoff.

Young, engaged, backpacking couple Alex (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Nica (Hani Fursteberg) are living a carefree existence, trekking through Georgia's Caucasus Mountains in Julia Loktev's The Loneliest Planet (Sundance Selects). A hired guide (Bidzina Gujabidze) leads them on a journey of paths not taken. As a guide, he knows his turf, and he's a born storyteller regaling the pair with tales of Chinese castration, buying American cars on the internet, war and children.

Meant to be seen on a big screen (don't watch it on your iPad), The Loneliest Planet, is one of those pretentious "not much happens" movies in which the landscape is as much a character as the people in it. Grand, yet intimate, the improvised quality actually works against the plot. It takes far too long to arrive at the penultimate terrifying encounter with armed mountain people, leading Alex to momentarily use Nica as a human shield, at the center of the film. Then you have the rest of the film to get through. With a minimum of dialogue, we are meant to read their inner machinations on their perplexed faces.

Is it too much to ask for something more? Something between pained silence and a gab-fest? We don't really have enough to go on to fully comprehend the severity of the situation and the impact it has on their relationship. We are simply left to guess and we would probably need to care about them more to do so. DVD special features include Gujabidze's photos and a behind the scenes doc.