Entertainment

Now Playing: 2gether, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Animal Crossing

Quarantine edition!

Published

April 28, 2020

GadgetMatch

The year 2020 ushered a sudden change in our day-to-day lives. With social distancing and staying at home becoming our new normal, it’s unsurprising that this pandemic has taken a toll on people’s emotional and mental health. The GadgetMatch team may be used to working remotely, but we’re experiencing this crisis, too. Here’s what’s Now Playing and what’s keeping us sane during the lockdown!

Games to play

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Rodneil: There were so many things that could have gone wrong for a title that was so hotly anticipated. Instead, what we got is a thoughtful expansion on a game and story so dear to many gamers’ hearts. FF7R is not perfect, but it does more than enough to quench the thirst built up over five years (since it was confirmed to be in development) while also making us want more.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Leez: At this point, who wouldn’t want to escape the impending doom of millions of people dying across the globe by going on a small island getaway, making it your own, and socializing with friends? Animal Crossing: New Horizons is addictive with more customizable features for you and your island to make every detail your own. This game is definitely one to add to the list of games and reasons you should get a Nintendo Switch if you don’t have one by now.

Stardew Valley

Luigi: If you’re a fan of the life simulator genre (à la The Sims or Animal Crossing), then you’ve heard of Stardew Valley before. Released in 2016, this cozy farm simulator is one of the best companions when you’re stuck at home in quarantine. With tons of things to do and villagers to warm up to, Stardew Valley can keep you entertained for hours on end.

Resident Evil 3 (Remake)

Kenrick: Capcom just can’t get enough of Resident Evil remakes. Last year, fans of the beloved action-horror game were treated to a glorious remake of Resident Evil 2. This year, Resident Evil 3 becomes the latest installment to be remade. The remake will surely please fans as it sticks to the story of the original. There’s just so much to love about this game as it breathes new life to the characters of Jill, Carlos, and the dreaded Nemesis.

Shows to binge-watch

Community

MJ: When life throws you a curve ball, that’s the universe’s way of redirecting you to a new path — it’s a lesson I gleefully accept. Community reminded me of my younger days. I remember an unexpected disaster that threw me to a bunch of misfits who I now call friends. The hit sitcom finally found its way to Netflix where you can binge-watch its six seasons, giving you real good laughs and serious life lessons in every episode.

What We Do in the Shadows

Luigi: In the month or so that we’ve been under quarantine, you might’ve found yourself stuck with the quirkiest of housemates. Nothing gets stranger, however, than the weird vampire (and vampire wannabe) quintet of What We Do in the Shadows. Inspired by Taika Waititi’s 2014 eponymous film, FX’s mockumentary comedy series follows the adventures of the most dysfunctional housemates: a 757-year old vampire and his familiar, an overtly sexual vampire and his wife, and an energy vampire.

The Last Dance

Rodneil: The Last Dance is a 10-episode documentary detailing the last 6th and final championship run of the Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Phil Jackson Chicago Bulls. Seeing as live sports is currently postponed until further notice, the documentary is a much-needed dose of entertainment for basketball fans who badly miss the game.

2gether: The Series

Vincenz: Tine (aka Mr. Chic) is a playboy who’s desperately looking for a girlfriend to replace his ex. But here’s the catch: a guy named Green likes him so much and follows him around to the point that Green looks like a leech attached to its host. The only way to get him out of the way is to beg Sarawat, a campus hottie, to become his fake boyfriend. He saw Sarawat as his savior to get away from an obsessed gay admirer. Little did he know, Sarawat was already head over heels for him long before they agreed on a pretend relationship.

Unorthodox

Carol: A closer look at the lives of Hasidic Jews in New York and a young woman’s struggle when she finds out the world she’s always known isn’t really for her. The story takes viewers from a secretive part of New York to the freedoms of Berlin. A poignant story spread out in four episodes based on the life of writer Deborah Feldman. It’s so good, you’ll end up wishing for a second season.

Chay: Unorthodox is a short but profound story about self-discovery and questioning what happiness truly is — is it one that you find for yourself or that which your circumstances dictate? The only bad thing about the series is it doesn’t have enough episodes!

TWICE: Seize The Light

Rodneil: This is a YouTube Originals documentary following K-Pop girl group TWICE during their TWICELIGHTS world tour. It also dives deep into their time as trainees and how they overcame hardships together as a nine-member group. It’ll surely be an emotional roller coaster for ONCEs — their devoted fans.

Why R U?

Vincenz: BL (Boys’ Love) series are common in Thailand, and these are based on fan novels. In Why R U, Zon has a younger sister (named Zol) who became popular because of the BL novel she published online. The characters were named after him and Saifah (the person he hates the most). Other than them, Fighter and Tor are also part of the novel (and they both consider each other as enemies). What if one day, you suddenly realize that you and the person you hate are already falling for each other? Would you still think it’s a curse that’s why you fell into the world of a BL novel? Or would you believe that homosexual love is the reality all along?

Ugly Delicious

Chay: Award-winning chef David Chang takes us on a culinary trip around the world; watching this felt like traveling while in self-isolation. Not only does the show combine two things I love, it also tackles racism, history, and what the future of regional cuisines as we know it might be like.

Movies to see

Contagion

Kenrick: A timely movie to watch? While the fictional virus in this movie is much more intense than the current COVID-19 pandemic, the story itself remains faithful to how society will respond to a health crisis. While the movie is almost nine years old, the current situation has revived interest in it as people try to understand just how a pandemic will affect the global society.

Godzilla: Resurgence

Rodneil: This feels like a very unique attack on Godzilla/Kaiju movies. Instead of having the protagonist be a regular citizen with some ties to people researching the creature, the film focuses on how the government responds to its emergence. That seems mundane at first glance but the pacing will keep you engaged. It does a good job of maintaining tension with well-timed reminders that ordinary people are dealing with a threat that can end mankind.

Albums/Songs/Podcasts to listen to

Human. :||: Nature. By Nightwish

Luigi: I’ve always been a huge fan of the hard rock and metal genres coming out of the “it’s just a phase, mom” era. If you want a taste away from the ordinary fare, Nightwish, a paragon of symphonic metal, brings together brutal guitar riffs, operatic vocals, and a full orchestra. Their latest album, “Human. :||: Nature.” comes in two discs: one, a masterpiece of melodic metal; and, the other, a full orchestral arrangement thematically highlighting the human journey of art and discovery. Listen here.

Social Distance

Chay: A daily podcast from The Atlantic tries to make sense of the grim reality that we’re living in. Journalist and physician James Hamblin answers executive producer for podcasts Katherine Wells’ questions about the pandemic and its consequences. Listen here.

Foam and Flotsam

MJ: Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Chelsea Peretti (known as Gina Linetti) may not be in the popular sitcom anymore, but she knows how to keep us entertained with her humor. The artist dropped “Foam and Flotsam”, a concept comedy album about coffee. These coffee-centric tracks may give you laughs while jamming due to its lyrics, but the songs tackle the complexity of human emotions, only told through coffee. Listen here.

“Easily” by Bruno Major

Rodneil: It’s a song from 2017 but I only chanced upon it recently. The lyrics suggest it’s a song about taking a chance on a relationship. While the thought has crossed my mind, I just really flow with the song’s melancholic but soothing vibe. Listen here.

Redraftables by The Ringer

Rodneil: With the NBA postponed indefinitely, Bill Simmons of The Ringer decided to do an NBA redraft. The rules are simple: How would we rank the players in a certain draft class knowing what we know now. They start with the notable 1996 draft that featured the likes of the late but great Kobe Bryant, and cultural icon Allen Iverson.

Oh My God by (G)I-DLE

Vincenz: A powerful love song with an unusual concept talking about how one woman is going crazy over another. Homosexuality in South Korea (and several parts of the world), is still a taboo. The music video depicts how same-sex love is considered a sin/crime while the lyrics suggest real intimacy and attraction between the two people. Soyeon, the member who’s responsible for writing the lyrics of the song, said it’s open to interpretation.

Doors by Ben&Ben

Vincenz: Just like anyone, we “open our secret doors” to people who we fully trust. This is an empowering song that tells us not to be afraid of opening up ourselves to those we hold dear. At the end of the day, people who truly love and care for you will be there in your darkest times. Listen here.

Sugar Calling

Chay: The Internet’s agony aunt Cheryl Strayed seeks wisdom and advice from writers like Margaret Atwood, Pico Iyer, and George Saunders. The reassuring podcast comes at a time when nothing makes sense and the future seems more uncertain than ever. Listen here.

Now Playing is the GadgetMatch team’s favorite games, movies, TV shows, and more each month. If you’re curious to know what we’re into at the moment, this is what you should check out. So grab your popcorn, get some drinks, and enjoy what’s now playing!

Entertainment

Now Playing: Hoppers

Spectacular fun ride with Daniel Chong at the helm

Published

March 22, 2026

Manila Connoisseur

Courtesy: Disney Pixar

There is a part of me that wants to say, if you want a feel-good, wholesome movie experience, go see Disney Pixar’s Hoppers.

But on the flip side, if you want an absurd, humorous, nonsensical-yet-totally-makes-sense dark comedy masked in an animated adventure, then you especially need to see it.

We can always argue that Pixar titles — and animated films in general — cater to adult audiences.

However, slotting in We Bare Bears creator Daniel Chong to helm this latest Disney Pixar masterpiece makes for a spectacularly unique ride.

It’s interestingly odd for a Pixar film, though not so far removed from the family-friendly, “happy ending” trope that feels unrecognizable.

I just personally loved Chong’s approach, driving the narrative with unpredictable humor, sharp twists, and a sci-fi premise that, come to think of it, isn’t actually theoretically impossible.

It’s so entertaining that you briefly forget you’re watching a Pixar movie. There are no dull moments and just a great ride from start to finish.

Nature vs. development

The premise is a familiar real-life dilemma we’ve seen for decades. In Hoppers, the suburban town of Beaverton where our protagonist Mabel lives, is under constant development.

Specifically, there’s the “Beltway Project”, an initiative by Mayor Jerry Generazzo, to connect residential areas to the town center via an elliptical highway.

As in reality, progress comes with collateral damage. In the film’s case, it’s the animals living in the local greenery.

Mabel isn’t going to let that happen. The movie quickly establishes her origin story in the first few minutes.

It shows how her relationship with her aging grandmother formed her special bond with “The Glade”. This lush forest was their favorite hangout as Mabel grew up. And that’s where she begun appreciating and caring for animals deeply.

Years have passed, and Mabel is now a fervent college student activist stopping at nothing to ensure the animals she grew up with can still live peacefully.

She has done a lot, from petitions to convincing people to support her cause. Without that many teammates by her side, she ultimately confronts the mayor herself. This is where she gets challenged to “make something happen” in 48 hours to convince the mayor to call the project off.

From ‘real’ to ‘sci-fi’

At this point, the movie dramatically switches from grounded reality to high-concept sci-fi. Mabel accidentally discovers her professor, Dr. Sam Fairfax, has developed an ambitious machine capable of transferring your consciousness into a robotic animal.

It was meant to observe animals harmlessly from a closer POV, and I guess you can give the professor the benefit of the doubt.

The entire scene reminded me of Jordan Peele’s Get Out briefly, but the tone shifts when Mabel ends up transported into a robot beaver body herself.

There’s an undeniable, hilarious callback to James Cameron’s Avatar here, from the disorienting “syncing” process to Mabel navigating the world in a body that isn’t hers. The only difference, obviously, is she isn’t a blue alien but rather a cute, child-visual-friendly beaver.

She finds new hope with this tech. But just as she thinks she can simply “communicate” with nature, she is slapped with the reality that in the wild, it’s survival of the fittest.

Logic takes a backseat

From then on, logic takes a backseat, yet it’s the kind of film where suspending your disbelief actually is helpful.

The “pond rules” were the only remaining glimmer of scientific accuracy but then, soon, you realize it would have been total chaos in the pond community just from a food chain standpoint.

Mabel gets introduced to King George and the inner workings of the community. There’s even a later chase when a flock of seagulls carry Diane, the gigantic shark referenced as the group’s “apex predator”, which is obviously impossible.

There’s just so many dumb rules (or lack of) that the internal logic made up for an even funnier film. It’s like Zootopia logic, but cranked up to an even more non-sensical level.

Dilemma

Anyway, Mabel discovers that the cause of the animals’ exodus are fake noise trees blasting high-pitched sounds. These are all the work of Mayor Jerry, doing it on purpose so the Beltway Project gets finished.

Mabel’s audacity leads to an Animal Council meeting, which was unlikely to begin with. Here, the leaders who each represent major animal classes come together.

The Insect Queen and her eventual Insect King son Titus get presented as the real antagonists, with a thirst for domination.

Mabel merely suggested scaring the Mayor back, but the animals decide on a dark uprising. With this, Mabel soon realizes the mayor is in danger.

The conflict is triggered further by her own human instinct when she kills the Insect Queen who annoyingly got into her face. This moment sends Titus into a vengeful rage even more.

This deepens Mabel’s dilemma as she now ironically has to side with the humans — including Mayor Jerry — while navigating the animals’ survivalist and territorial tendencies.

Standstill, unlikely team-up

However, after a long chase, and attempts to communicate with the mayor funnily with her impromptu-formed rag-tag squad, Mabel’s robot beaver eventually gets caught.

The Animal Council eventually discovers the humans’ experimental tech and turns it against them. Under the tutelage of Titus, the animals hold the scientists hostage and forces them to create a robotic clone of Jerry.

Titus’ goal was to use the mayor’s own noise trees meant to scare the animals away from The Glade against the humans gathered for a rally.

Just when all seems lost, the real Mayor Jerry shows a sudden flash of compassion. And perhaps with some Messianic complex involved, he hero-balls his way into a robotic beaver himself for a last-ditch effort to stop Titus.

A lot happened in between, presented with a hefty dose of comedy that keeps you guessing the characters’ fates.

Ultimately, the other animals realize Titus’ purely selfish and evil goals, and his plan backfires when he gets eaten by the Amphibian King.

In the end, the animals team up to destroy their community dam to flood a wildfire inadvertently started by Titus moments earlier.

Then, it’s a classic happy ending: The Glade is restored as a protected area, Mabel and Mayor Jerry reconcile, and the protagonist graduates with a job offer from Dr. Sam herself.

Absurdity ’til the end

The absurdity does not even end when the credits roll. In the post-credits scene, we see the elderly man Mabel previously encountered, who mistook her petition form for a grocery list.

After she takes care of her business at The Glade, Mabel sweetly fulfills the elderly man’s simple errand.

And handing the eggs, milk, and bread back to the man? Ants.

It’s as if it was a delightful Ant-Man nod, especially with the parallels between the logic there and in the MCU wherein a neurotransmitter is needed to lead ants in performing such tasks.

Perhaps, a final wink from Daniel Chong, whose direction makes up for a spectacularly good laugh.

Entertainment

Dune: Part Three teaser trailer: First look at Robert Pattinson’s Scytale

In cinemas this December

Published

March 20, 2026

GadgetMatch

Courtesy: Warner Bros. Studios

The countdown is officially on as Warner Bros. Pictures has released the teaser trailer for Dune: Part Three.

The epic conclusion to Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” trilogy opens in cinemas and IMAX this December.

In addition, character posters have also been released. Here are some, courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures:

The highly anticipated film stars Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Ferguson, Florence Pugh, Robert Pattinson, Anya Taylor-Joy and Isaach De Bankolé.

The trailer, meanwhile, gives an excellent first look at Pattinson as the main antagonist of the final installment, Scytale.

In the final movie, the plot jumps ahead 17 years after Chalamet’s Paul Atreides ascended to the throne.

There will be a dramatic change in the tone from the first two films, focusing more on psychological thriller instead of a war epic, given the visuals of the previous two installments.

Atreides is now a battle-hardened Emperor, struggling with the “Holy War” that has claimed 61 million lives.

Worse, Scytale will lead a conspiracy from within that attempts to overthrow the protagonist’s empire.

Pattinson’s character will mess with Atreides’ head instead of pure brawns, in a bid to wear him down. This presents the central conflict of the upcoming film.

Entertainment

WATCH: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie final trailer

In cinemas this April

Published

March 19, 2026

GadgetMatch

Courtesy: Universal Studios

Universal Pictures has released the final trailer for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which hits cinemas early next month.

Chris Pratt and Charlie Day return to play the iconic brothers Mario and Luigi, with the group getting bigger and more lovable with the addition of Donald Glover’s Yoshi.

Other actors returning to voice beloved characters from the franchise are:

Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach
Jack Black as Bowser
Keegan-Michael Key as Toad
Brie Larson as Rosalina

Worth noting, the Captain Marvel and The Marvels lead actress, Larson, fulfills her dream as a Super Mario fan as her character makes her big-screen debut.