This week saw several festival film releases in lieu of Onam, and interestingly across languages 'fantasy' happened to be a common theme. A gist of new movies this week, how they have fared and what they offer:

• Captain (Tamil): Indian's first alien-monster hunt movie, Captain starring Arya in the lead is a Predator-inspired film. Arya has his team of military officers are on the hunt for a 'minotaur' that is wreaking havoc in a restricted forest section and how they succeed in over-powering it forms the rest of the story. The movie has been criticized for being flawed in its execution, considering Shakti Soundar Rajan's previous success with Hollywood-inspired films. [Captain Review]

• Pathonpatham Noottandu (Malayalam): A period drama surrounding the fight against caste system, the movie is set in the 19th century and narrates the story of Arattupuzha Velayudha Chekavar [played by Siju Wilson], one of Kerala's first social reformers. The movie, which is a multi-starrer with strong technical backing, has opened to positive critical acclaim.

• Oke Oka Jeevitham/Kanam [Telugu-Tamil bilingual]: A time-travel flick, Kanam marks the Tamil comeback of actor Sharwanand and yesteryear actress Amala. The film follows a young musician's attempt to prevent his mother's death through time travel and has been lauded as one of the best watches this week. [Kanam Review]

• Ottu [Malayalam]: The movie is centered around in-need-of-money Kichu [Kunchacko Boban] and lost-his-memory David [Arvind Swami], and moves forward after the former is employed to gather information from the latter. The film is somewhere between a road-thriller and gangster flick, and has gotten mixed reviews for the pace and writing in the film. Ottu also leaves many questions unanswered because of the impending sequels that are expected to follow. 

• Brahmastra [Hindi]: The biggest release this week, Brahmastra starring Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Amitabh Bachchan, Nagarjuna and Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone in cameos, has also been a big let down in terms of a solid outing. The movie comes with a strong mythological story and top-notch VFX that is enhanced by the 3D viewing experience, but other aspects such as writing has been largely criticized. Like Ottu, Brahmastra also awaits two sequels to follow. [Brahmastra Review]

• Oru Thekkan Thallu Case [Malayalam]: Stories on ego-clashes in a rural set-up have become a popular genre, and Oru Thekkan Thallu Case is another movie in this category. It is based on a popular short story titled Ammini Pillai Vettu Case and follows a revenge-based conflict between Ammini Pillai (Biju Menon) and Podiyan (Roshan Mathew). Great performances but a one-time watch. 

• Others: A group of lesser known Tamil films namely Not Reachable (crime-thriller), Company (action-drama), Riyaa The Haunted House (horror thriller) and Idhudhaan Kadhala (romantic drama) are also new in theaters this week.