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

Prime Video unveils Philippine slate: More originals, licensed titles

1st ever local slate announcement graced by stars

Published

April 16, 2026

Manila Connoisseur

Prime Video unveiled seven Filipino Prime Original series and more licensed and exclusive content to look forward to during the streaming platform’s first-ever local slate announcement in the market.

Additional titles are likewise coming to Prime Video — including new Korean shows — as well as the live broadcast of the NBA Playoffs and Finals 2026.

The launch event was graced by some of Philippine showbiz’s best stars, like Jericho Rosales, Marian Rivera, Sharon Cuneta, Barbie Forteza, Kim Chiu, Joshua Garcia, Angelica Panganiban, Zanjoe Marudo, Ivana Alawi, Janine Gutierrez, and more.

The lineup marks a significant expansion of Prime Video’s investment in the Philippines. This includes collaborations with network giants ABS-CBN and GMA, for premium storytelling that spans drama, politics, suspense, romance, crime, and comedy.

Part of the slate available on Prime Video are:

Linlang
Saving Grace
The Silent Noise
Love Is Never Gone
The Loyalty Game
Honor Thy Mother
Kopino
Behind Closed Doors

A new season of Last One Laughing Philippines, featuring Vice Ganda, will also be available soon.

Meanwhile, these exclusive licensed Filipino films are joining the lineup:

Samahan ng mga Makasalanan
Gabi ng Lagim
Bayaniverse trilogy: Quezon, Heneral Luna, Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral
Bar Boys: After School
Open Endings

Global hits, K-dramas, and anime titles available or soon to be on the streaming platform include:

The Boys
Fallout
The Summer I Turned Pretty
GOOD BOY
Marry My Husband
A Love Other Than Yours
Final Table
Nine to Six
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX
Demon Slayer

Viewers can avail of a Prime Video subscription for as low as just PhP 149/month — a great value given all the local and foreign content available to stream on the platform.

Entertainment

Godzilla Minus Zero trailer teases the kaiju’s arrival in New York

The movie premieres in November.

Published

April 15, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Godzilla Minus One was one of my favorite movies in 2023. Only the second live-action Godzilla in the ongoing Reiwa era, Minus One reintroduced the Japanese version of the legendary kaiju to contrast the blockbuster approach of the American Legendary Pictures franchise. Now, the award-winning movie is getting a sequel: Godzilla Minus Zero.

Set as a direct sequel to the 2023 film, Godzilla Minus Zero takes place in 1949, a few years after the events of the past movie. As the end of the last film portends, the eponymous monster survives the catastrophic attack against it. But as to how it survived and what it’s targeting next, we’ll just have to wait and see.

In a newly released teaser trailer, Minus Zero will once again feature the return of the previous film’s Koichi and Noriko. The latter of which is still sporting the scars of surviving Godzilla’s attack on Ginza. Koichi, however, finds himself back in the cockpit of a fighter plane to unknown purposes.

That’s not all. Godzilla is apparently ditching the Pacific Ocean for the Atlantic. In a brief scene that will surely become iconic as time goes by, the kaiju traipses gingerly but menacingly past the Statue of Liberty.

Thankfully, it’s not a long wait before we find out what the world’s favorite kaiju is up to this time. Godzilla Minus Zero will premiere in Japanese cinemas on November 3 and American cinemas on November 6.

Entertainment

Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse gets first stills ahead of 2027 release

Miles races against time

Published

April 14, 2026

Rodneil Quiteles

April 2026 new stills | Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse

All Images C/O: "Columbia Pictures"

Sony Pictures Animation has released new stills for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. It offers an early look at the highly anticipated conclusion to its Spider-Verse trilogy. The film is set to arrive in Philippine cinemas in 2027.

Miles Morales returns for the final chapter of Sony’s Oscar-winning animated saga, following the events of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. This time, he finds himself hunted by Miguel O’Hara and the Spider Society. This forces him to navigate the farthest reaches of the multiverse to find a way home.

Written by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and David Callaham, the film centers on a race against time. Miles must save not just his family, but the fragile balance of the Spider-Verse itself.

Closing out the Spider-Verse trilogy

The Spider-Verse series began with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which introduced audiences to a multiverse of Spider-People and redefined animated superhero storytelling with its bold visual style. It went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Its sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, expanded that concept further, introducing the Spider Society—a vast network of Spider-heroes led by Miguel O’Hara—and ending on a cliffhanger that set up Miles’ most personal and high-stakes journey yet.

A multiverse under pressure

In Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, Miles is pushed into the darkest corners of the multiverse. Betrayed by allies and pursued across dimensions, he must confront what it means to be Spider-Man while trying to hold together the people and realities he cares about most.

The film delivers the emotional and narrative payoff to a trilogy that blends coming-of-age storytelling with multiversal stakes—closing out Miles Morales’ arc in what Sony Pictures Animation promises is its most ambitious chapter yet.

Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse opens in Philippine cinemas in 2027.