Entertainment

Now Playing: Novocaine

No pain, no gain

Published

March 10, 2025

Luigi Leonardo

Gore is an old friend for fans of action movies. After all, what’s an action movie without broken bones, torn flesh, or excessive amounts of blood? For most moviegoers, the occasional gory scene is manageable. That’s because movie characters, like us, fear pain. Imagine that look of fear before a knife plunges into skin or that split-second of trepidation before the reluctant hero fires a gun. Pain is a friend that gives the audience some time to prepare for a graphic scene. And yet, pain is exactly what’s missing in Novocaine.

No pain

Novocaine is about a man who can’t feel pain. Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) suffers from a congenital insensitivity to pain. His entire life is dedicated to staying away from potentially harmful situations. He can’t even eat solid foods out of fear of unknowingly biting his own tongue off.

His cushy life changes when he meets the girl of his dreams, Sherry (Amber Midthunder), who shows him a life outside of his bubble. However, his new life is abruptly taken from him when a bank robbery sees Sherry kidnapped. Desperate, Caine goes on an action-packed hunt for Sherry and the bank robbers.

No gain

If you’ve watched your fair share of action films before, then you’ve probably seen a story like Novocaine before. Minus the inability to feel pain, Novocaine is your boilerplate fish-out-of-water story about an unlikely hero getting into dangerous situations.

Though the film doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it’s anything but tiring. It knows which strings to pull and at what time. From the first ten minutes, Novocaine gets you invested in Nathan Caine’s predicament and his blossoming affection for Sherry. Though the two just started dating, it seems believable that Caine would risk life and limb to rescue Sherry from gun-happy robbers.

Quaid’s and Midthunder’s performances carry this dynamic throughout the entire runtime. But besides those two, a lot of the applause goes to Ray Nicholson who plays Simon, the leader of the bank robbers. Once again, Nicholson is unparalleled in performing as a villain you just love to hate.

To be fair, everyone in this movie deserves flowers. Despite the simplicity of the story, you’re still hooked for the whole movie. It’s what I’d call a cozy action movie. It doesn’t matter if you’ve heard of the story before. It’s still the perfect film to watch when you just want to turn down the stress of daily life for a bit.

Prepare to get shocked

Now, let’s talk about the action. Normally, I can hang with the big boys when it comes to gore. However, unlike its contemporaries, Novocaine takes things to the next level.

First of all, the film makes no qualms about showing the gnarliest of situations in all their glory. If you watch Novocaine, you will see bones sticking out, fingernails getting pulled, and flesh going inside deep friers. It’s just that gory.

Besides the raw imagery, you’ll notice how the anticipation of pain helps prepare us for an impeding scene with a lot of gore. This is mostly because the movie does not allow you to anticipate pain. Because the main character can’t feel pain, he does not experience any hesitation of subjecting his body to the most gruesome of scenarios. For example, where a normal person would normally hesitate before using a knife to dig a bullet out of a fresh wound, he just does it with no warning.

It’s a wonderful shock of adrenaline for action fans who’ve grown inured to the standard fare of gory scenes. Instead of alienating the audience, the unconventional action actually adds to how fresh the film feels, especially for fans of the genre. It’s a must-watch!

Novocaine opens in theaters starting March 12.

Entertainment

UNDERTALE: The Determination Symphony gets two more shows

Both shows will be held on the next day.

Published

August 21, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

The Philippines has an unquenchable love for game-based concerts (so *wink wink* please bring more of them). Though these concerts do generate a lot of hype, the drawback is that they often sell out way before most fans can grab tickets. If you’re an UNDERTALE fan, that experience might be rocking you right now, as both shows have already sold out. But fear not: UNDERTALE: The Determination Symphony has just opened two more shows.

Late last month, Film Concerts PH, in partnership with SOHO Live, announced UNDERTALE: The Determination Symphony happening on October 17. As expected, both shows, at 3pm and at 7pm, sold out very quickly after sales opened.

Today, the concert experience is opening two more shows on the next day, October 18. Like the original date, the two shows will happen at 3pm and at 7pm, allowing more fans to experience the concert.

The concert will be performed by the Filharmonika Orchestra and conducted by Thanapol Setabrahmana. Personally curated by creator Toby Fox and developed by Lambert Jackson with Materia Music, the concert experience showcases the game’s most recognizable tunes laid over gameplay footage playing simultaneously. Plus, for the world tour, the experience will have expanded scoring.

Tickets are available through Ticketmelon. Both dates will be held at The Proscenium Theater in Makati.

Entertainment

Here’s what you should watch before Avengers: Doomsday

The road to Doom begins here.

Published

August 18, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

As of today, the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will take around 650 hours to watch. So, if you wanted to catch up with everything before this December’s Avengers: Doomsday, you would need to allot around 5 hours per day to watch content from Marvel. For a lot of us, that sort of commitment is completely untenable. Thankfully, Marvel has released an official watchlist, paring the list down to something much more manageable.

Before the MCU got as big as it is today, it was fun to do a movie marathon heading into a major Marvel release. For example, when Avengers: Endgame came out, some theaters held continuous marathons lasting a few days. Take note that this was before Marvel officially included every TV show and legacy movie (like the X-Men universe).

Now, heading into Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel will not ask you to devote the rest of your year just for homework. Instead, here’s an official list you can use to catch up:

X-Men
X2
Captain America: The First Avenger
The Avengers
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Endgame
Loki
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Captain America: Brave New World
Deadpool & Wolverine
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Thunderbolts
The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Compared to the extensive list of everything Marvel, this official list is much more manageable, especially since there’s only one show (Loki). It’s also a veritable who’s who of the MCU, so it’s hard to get bored.

The official list as seen on Disney+

There are, however, a few surprises and spoilers. For one, if you’ve been avoiding the teasers and trailers, the X-Men films might be a shock to you. Likewise, the inclusion of the critically panned Brave New World is interesting.

The exclusions are just as noteworthy, too. Though the two earliest X-Men films are included, the list doesn’t add Days of Future Past, one of the first Marvel films to use time travel. Thor: Love and Thunder isn’t on here, despite Love, Thor’s adopted daughter, appearing in the trailers. Brand New Day is also missing, but that’s likely because the movie isn’t on Disney+ yet.

Avengers: Doomsday premieres in cinemas on December 18. Four months should be enough time to catch up on these titles.

Entertainment

Marvel Studios unveils new X-Men cast

Adam Driver, Inde Navarette, more join Sadie Sink for film set for May 2028

Published

August 17, 2026

GadgetMatch

Courtesy: Marvel

At the D23 Disney fan event, Marvel Studios has officially unveiled the cast of the new X-Men movie, which has been announced for a May 5, 2028 premiere.

Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige and director Jake Schreier were joined onstage by Sadie Sink, who made her debut as Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, for the showcase.

The trio then welcomed Sink’s new co-stars: Kit Connor as Scott Summers/Cyclops, Christopher Abbott as Professor Charles Xavier, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Inde Navarrette as Rogue, and Maya Boyd as Storm.

Finally, Adam Driver crashed the panel with one final video surprise, where he revealed that he will be playing a very sinister figure named Nathaniel Milbury, a.k.a. Mister Sinister.

Mister Sinister has been a recurring antagonist throughout various X-Men media, including in Season 2 of the 1992 animated series and in the first season of X-Men ’97.

Now, he will serve as the main villain in the new X-Men film that jumpstarts the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Mutant Saga.

Given the initial cast, this X-Men reboot will be set in the earlier stages of the team’s lifecycle, taking audiences back to how the school built its foundation for a faithful setup based in the comics. Although within the MCU chronology, it will be set in the present day.

The rebooted X-Men film is now the third confirmed feature film in the post-Multiverse Saga MCU, after Black Panther 3 and Ghost Rider.