A Roman general, in a bid to expand his base, ventures out into the open sea with his army. Before you think you have inadvertently clicked the link to the review of Gladiator 2, fret not; this is how Kanguva begins. The fascinating story of director Siva’s Kanguva stretches from a legendary island’s hills to the sandy shores of Goa; it even transcends time as its proceedings occur in two different timelines. But whether they amalgamate to make for an intriguing watch is a different question altogether.

“When the guns roar, the arts die,” said celebrated playwright Arthur Miller. Many art masterpieces have been swallowed up by wars but art, like the ever-forgiving land that has caused countless battles, has withstood it all. It has been the blank canvas to paint everything from propaganda films to anti-war movies. While many of them resort to skewed agendas, director Rajkumar Periasamy takes the road less travelled with Amaran, and along with producer Kamal Haasan and powerhouse performances from Sivakarthikeyan and Sai Pallavi, the filmmaker delivers an evocative biopic of Major Mukund Varadarajan.

While most filmmakers focus on the bigger aspects of their story to substantiate the so-called big-screen experience, C Prem Kumar belongs to a niche group of directors who like to concentrate on the finer, intimate moments of life. Probably because of his time spent behind the viewfinder as a cinematographer, Prem’s scenes look like animated still photographs, and just like his directorial debut 96, his sophomore outing Meiyazhagan is a series of moments in motion.

Vijay Antony is on a spree with his recent films. While his contemporaries rarely churn out a couple of releases each year, the music director-turned-actor starred in four films last year and his latest release Hitler marks his third outing of 2024. But given how almost all of them turned out to be underwhelming, it feels like he’s shooting for quantity over quality, and Hitler, unfortunately, is the latest addition to that list.