Karnan is a powerful action drama about the collective uprising of an oppressed community against the upper class. Karnan is littered with Theni Eswar's striking imagery, plus Mari Selvaraj's provocative war cry moments. In Dhanush, it also has just the kind of actor who could pull off a mass titular character with artful touches.
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Mandela has an interesting premise that talks about vote-bank politics and vote canvassing all while staying within the limits of a lighthearted, satirical entertainer. The movie is a tad repetitive, but it is held together beautifully by strong performances, starting with Yogi Babu as the titular character.
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Songs in several inappropriate places act as speed bumps in the breezy, mindless and fun Teddy. Anyhow, for many of us who are still young at heart, the movie's adult-toy bonding alone may be enough to look past those kinds of issues.
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First-time director Ani I.V. Sasi tries to tell a fantastical tale in Theeni, but without much impact. Theeni has likeable actors in the lead roles, but they are in a story that beggars belief and is vanilla, to say the least.
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Bhoomi is the kind of film that conveys its novel ideas with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. As a result, it comes across as more of a PR exercise than a movie released on Disney+ Hotstar.
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Lokesh Kanagaraj humanizes Vijay's character in Master. Vijay does not play a messiah in the film. That he has some personal demons make the character interesting. And, that Kanagaraj is not afraid of deviating slightly from commercial film formulas make Master worth watching, despite its flaws.
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The best thing about the Tamil adaptation of Martin Prakkat's Charlie is that it makes us want to revisit the Malayalam film, like all good remakes do. It may be familiar material for the viewers of the original, but is different in its own regards.
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In Oru Pakka Kathai, Balaji Tharaneetharan aims for something deeper, more ethereal than a standard love story. It may be a high-concept film with much plot, but it does not live up to its initial promise. Nevertheless, the good-naturedness of the plot and characters make us watch it until the end.
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In Netflix's Paava Kadhaigal, Tamil cinema's four exceptionally talented directors deftly tackle themes of honor and pride in a patriarchal society. The anthology may not be an easy watch, but it has breathtaking moments, strong writing, and outstanding performances.
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Much of Vignarajan's directorial debut film keeps us in the dark about what is happening to its characters. The multiple storylines never quite add up. Nevertheless, the makers have an eye for detail and style sense, which make Andhaghaaram barely watchable despite the ambiguity in it.
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For a story of a man with a will to fly and to give others wings to fly, Sudha Kongara's Soorarai Pottru takes time to take off. But the movie stays engaging throughout thanks mainly to a magnificent Suriya in the title role of Nedumaaran Rajangam.
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Seeing Putham Pudhu Kaalai on Amazon Prime is like watching lightning bugs glow at night. The anthology is quite elaborately mounted, and it has short films that capture your imagination only in brief spurts. This is to say, almost all shorts in the anthology come and go so quickly that these only leave you with a melange of good and quirky moments.
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