The Rock's Trainer Gives Advice On How To Get As Ripped As Dwayne Johnson

The Rock's Trainer Gives Advice On How To Get As Ripped As Dwayne Johnson

On top of Dwayne Johnson's electrifying charisma, a big part of what has made the wrestler-cum-actor the biggest action star in the world is his impressive physique. The Rock maintains a figure so ripped that it would make even the most chiseled action figures blush. There’s a lot that goes into getting that buff, but Johnson’s strength and conditioning coach Dave Rienzi has shared one of the core philosophies that governs his training approach for his client. He said,

One thing I always preach is intensity. A lot of people either aren't lifting the right weight or with the right intensity. And the rest periods between sets are very important—you're going to get much more of a benefit out of the muscle, no matter what your goals are, if you keep your rest periods shorter.

If you’ve ever listened to Dwayne Johnson talk about his workouts, or seen his massively followed Instagram account, you know that he brings the intensity. That is something emphasized by his trainer, who believes that is one element that is lacking from a lot of people’s workout routines. When Johnson lifts, he isn’t just going through the motions in a perfunctory way, he is putting real effort and intensity into it.

In his conversation with Men’s Health, Dave Rienzi also mentions the importance of rest periods between sets. A rest period is not supposed to be five minutes for you to chat with the other people at the gym, watch a video on your phone, or take pictures for the gram. Your rest period should be just long enough for you to be ready to do another set.

Naturally, this will be slightly different for everyone, but what Dave Rienzi is recommending is that a general rule of thumb is that shorter is better. Another thing he mentions is that people aren’t lifting the right amount of weight and while that may be true, the ‘right amount’ will be different for different people, and many may not know what that amount is without the help of a professional trainer.

My interpretation of Dave Rienzi’s advice is that when you workout, you need to workout; you need to workout hard and fatigue your muscles, of course always doing so in a safe manner with proper technique. This advice makes total sense given what we’ve seen of The Rock’s workouts. Dwayne Johnson is a busy guy; he doesn’t have time to dilly-dally. He is working out hard and for results.

Obviously there is a lot more than this that goes into getting as ripped as Dwayne Johnson. Proper nutrition and professional training play a huge role in how he achieves his physique and those resources aren't available to everyone. Even if you were able to mimic his workouts to a T (which you probably shouldn’t do right away if you’re just starting out), you would still be bound by your own genetics and what your body is capable of.

Still, The Rock and his trainer get results; results that have to be perfect every time he steps in front of the camera. So if you’re going to try to get as ripped as The Rock, following his trainer’s methodologies isn’t a bad idea.

You can next see what high intensity and short rest periods can do when Dwayne Johnson stars in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw on August 2nd. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see how it fits into the larger slate, and for details about all of this year’s biggest movies.

Bond 25 Will Reportedly Be Back On Its Feet ‘Within The Week’

Bond 25 Will Reportedly Be Back On Its Feet ‘Within The Week’

Yesterday, James Bond fans were hit with some pretty bad news as they heard that Daniel Craig had been injured on the set of the next James Bond film and that production had been suspended as a result. Luckily, however, it doesn't appear that the injury to Craig is particularly serious, as it's now being reported production is expected to resume within the week.

Yesterday it was reported that Craig had slipped while running, tweaking ligaments in his ankle. Craig was apparently in a great deal of pain and was flown to the U.S. for X-rays and to ascertain the extent of the damage. Luckily, The Sun, who also revealed the initial injury, is now reporting that the damage is less serious than was feared and production should only remain closed down for a few days.

This is some of the only good news that Bond 25 has received in its life span. The film first had trouble getting off the ground after original director Danny Boyle left the project.Then, the script, which started over from scratch at that point, went through a number of hands, and according to some reports may still be having issues.

The script problems caused Bond 25 to shift its release date back from February of next year to April. If Daniel Craig's injury had been more severe another potential delay may have been in the cards, but it now seems like that won't be necessary.

Craig's injury came near the end of Bond 25's time filming in Jamaica. We know, based on the plot synopsis of the new movie, that's where the story will start. Bond will have retired at the begging of the film, but friend and colleague Felix Lighter of the CIA will request the former spy's help. From there, we have no idea where things go. The film is still without an official title, not that James Bond movie titles on their own usually reveal much about the movies themselves.

Perhaps we'll learn more about the story once we know where production on Bond 25 is headed next.

This is far from the first time Daniel Craig has been injured filming James Bond movies. In fact, Craig has had much more serious injuries in the past that have delayed production for more significant periods of time. While playing James Bond is certainly going to be a physical role, we all have our limits.

Daniel Craig has been a great James Bond but at 51-years-old, maybe it's really not a bad thing that this is expected to be his final turn in the role. We certainly don't want to see him hurt himself in any serious way, and he's earned the right to rest. He may be getting older when it comes to playing James Bond but he's still got decades of acting ahead of him, assuming he remains healthy.

First Pet Sematary Reviews Are Up, See What Critics Are Saying

First Pet Sematary Reviews Are Up, See What Critics Are Saying

We are in a brilliant time for horror, as the genre is winning new converts thanks to what seems to be an alternating pattern of inventive new original films and fantastic remakes and sequels in hallowed franchises. After Jordan Peele’s Us blew the doors off the box office last month, April has brought the remake/new adaptation of horror master Stephen King’s Pet Sematary.

Considered to be one of Stephen King’s most terrifying novels, Pet Sematary was last adapted for the big screen in 1989, in a film that is well-liked by some fans, but one that probably needed a remake. So how does the new Pet Sematary fare? Pretty well it seems. The reviews are up for the film and CinemaBlend’s own Sean O’Connell gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars, praising it as an adaptation of King’s work. In his review, Sean said:

Pet Sematary, as a story, isn’t for everyone. It’s dark and sad, heartbreaking and complicated. But for fans eager to venture to the hallowed ground of King’s novel, this adaptation is a worthy and unsettling tour guide through the mind caverns of King.

That is encouraging to hear for Stephen King fans who have seen the author’s work run the gamut from unwatchable to masterpiece. That said, the story of Pet Sematary isn’t going to appeal to everyone, and it’s not meant to. Collider’s Perri Nemiroff echoes some of Sean’s points while highlighting how scary Pet Sematary is. She says in her "A-" review of the film:

Pet Sematary isn’t striving to be an easy communal crowdpleaser. Just like the source material, it’s a movie with a real thoughtful mean streak that’ll chill you to the bone, and ensure you remain sufficiently on edge well after it concludes.

It sounds like Pet Sematary is truly scary and will leave you feeling rattled long after the credits roll. Right before the credits, though, is where there seems to be some debate, with some reviewers feeling that this new film, while ultimately being a success, doesn’t quite stick the landing. IndieWire’s Britt Hayes gave Pet Sematary a “B-“ and said:

Succeeds in some areas where the 1989 version failed while ultimately failing to deliver an ending that resonates as deeply as its source material.

Others, like The Wrap’s Monica Castillo seemed to appreciate the new ending to the film how it leaves audiences with a lot to ponder in their post-Pet Sematary trauma. She said:

Its terrifying story about death still leaves audiences with much to think about long after the credits roll, and the twists that lead to a new ending are fun to follow.

Not everyone felt that this new Pet Sematary actually felt new though. In one of the film’s negative reviews, Nikki Baughan of ScreenDaily found the positive elements to be far outweighed by how trite the whole thing felt. She said:

Yet these are buried deep under a mudslide of horror cliches — jump scares, creepy kids, expositional newspaper headlines — that reduce this to just another run-of-the-mill horror remake.

Opinions like that seem to be the minority though, and some, like Slashfilm’s Chris Evangelista, fall on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. He found that this new Pet Sematary made changes that were for the better and allowed the filmmakers to tell a new version of the story that maintains the frightening and emotional impact of the source material. He gave the film extremely high praise in his 9 out of 10 review, and said:

Directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer take the terror that King forged, and mold it into something fresh, and exciting, and downright horrifying. Pet Sematary is one of the best Stephen King adaptations ever.

As of now, with an 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, it seems that Pet Sematary is another winning chapter in the ongoing horror renaissance. The film won't be for everyone and Stephen King die-hards and fans of the original film can probably go either way on the changes. Pet Sematary also isn't a particularly happy film, so if you're doing a double feature with Shazam! it's probably best to end with that delightful superhero film instead of going home on such a heavy note.

Pet Sematary rises from its grave when it opens in theaters on April 5. Check out our 2019 release schedule to see all the horror films and everything else you can look forward to this year.

This Rotten Week: Predicting Dark Phoenix And The Secret Life of Pets 2 Reviews

This Rotten Week: Predicting Dark Phoenix And The Secret Life of Pets 2 Reviews

The first weekend of June 2019 delivers two high-profile movies on the opposite end of the theatrical spectrum. One film is a much-anticipated and much-delayed comic book project, and the other is an animated sequel about talking animals. Get ready for the X-Men franchise's Dark Phoenix and The Secret Life of Pets 2.

Just remember, I'm not reviewing these movies, but rather predicting where they'll end up on the Tomatometer. Let's take a look at This Rotten Week has to offer.

The Dark Phoenix saga, is one of the most popular comic book storylines ever, and its movie treatment is finally hitting the big screen. X-Men: The Last Stand nodded to the arc tethered to an ever-powerful and unhinged Jean Grey who becomes at odds with the X-Men, but that one fell kinda flat. This latest effort from director Simon Kinberg at least pays more tribute to parts of the original storyline, with Jean’s powers coming from a cosmic force and something resembling Emma Frost (though she’s different) taking part in Grey’s corruption.

The rest of Dark Phoenix's plot is very much taking liberties with the original saga in order to contain and connect the narrative, for better or worse. This is the latest movie in Fox's quasi-rebooted X-Men franchise, with the prior effort, Apocalypse (47%), representing a major dud after the critical successes of First Class (86%) and Days of Future Past (90%).

I think Dark Phoenix will finish somewhere in between, though on the lower end. It doesn’t necessarily look amazing or terrible, but I think there’s enough meat to the source material to at least land Simon Kinberg's film on the positive side of the Tomatometer.

What would happen if your pets lived a double life? Sure, they put on all of the airs of standard pet living when their owners are around, but when left to their own devices, stuff just gets weird and wild. That idea was the basis for the original Secret Life of Pets (73%), and now audiences get to run it back a second time, seemingly without many changes at all. The Secret Life of Pets 2 looks nearly identical to the first.

That’s not always the worst thing in the world, to be sure. After all, it’s a kids’ movie with a built-in audience, and the little ones don’t often need a ton of variation. Illumination Entertainment clearly isn’t in Pixar or DreamWorks' class of animation studios, but their celebrity-filled films generally land in the positive zone. Their last few, in addition to the original Pets movie, include Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch (58%), Despicable Me 3 (59%) and Sing (72%). The Secret Life of Pets 2 is sitting at 71% through 31 reviews, but I think it drops over the course of the week.

Recapping last week:

The Rotten Watch scored two for three the last time around. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Predicted: 45% Actual: 39%) landed within range, though that score kept dropping over the course of the week. Critics mostly agreed the movie’s visuals were on point, and the negative takes almost all stemmed from what many agreed was an utter lack of a storyline. Many agreed the script and characters needed plenty of work and ultimately failed the film, which is the first negatively reviewed flick in the Monster-verse franchise.

I admittedly missed the mark on the Ma (Predicted: 41% Actual: 61%) score, mostly because I failed to understand how critics would view the movie. Most agreed that Octavio Spencer really carried the show, while the positive-minded critics appreciating the film’s rather campy style and over-the-top take on the violence and gore. It didn't land for every critic out there, obviously, but it was enough to keep the score in the positive range.

And finally, the Elton John biopic Rocketman (Predicted: 87% Actual: 90%) was the other win, though truth be told, I had a head start on this score. In any case, critics have adored the glossed-up and pointedly sensational (but apparently accurate) take on the rise of the legendary musician through the early years of his accession into pop music's orbit.

Next time around, we’ve got Men in Black International and Shaft. It’s gonna be a Rotten Week!

How Rocketman's Box Office Opening Compares To Bohemian Rhapsody

How Rocketman's Box Office Opening Compares To Bohemian Rhapsody

Rocketman has no choice but to be compared with the huge recent hit that was Bohemian Rhapsody. Honestly, there are worse problems. When it comes to the opening box office, the Elton John biopic doesn't quite hold a candle in the wind to killer Queen, but no one expected it to.

Rocketman is rated R and made the bold choice to fully explore Elton John's sex and drugs lifestyle. The movie shows sex scenes between men, and that's still seen as controversial in a few markets, which limits the overall audience. The filmmakers figured that would be the case, but made the decision anyway to be true to Elton's story.

Still, Rocketman actually over-performed from its initial projection of a $20 million domestic opening. It opened to an estimated $25 million opposite very stiff competition. Rocketman opened in third place at the U.S./Canada market, and it has already made more than $30 million overseas at this point for a current worldwide total of $56,200,000, per Box Office Mojo.

Bohemian Rhapsody, on the other hand, had a November 2018 opening weekend of $51 million at the domestic box office.

Taron Egerton plays Elton John in the new biopic and he said he'd be happy to make even half of Bohemian Rhapsody's money. Rocketman is not likely to make that much overall, but the domestic opening was about half of Bohemian's domestic opening. So there you go.

Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman semi-share a director in Dexter Fletcher. Fletcher directed all of Rocketman and the very end of Bohemian Rhapsody after Bryan Singer was fired.

Critics have been kinder to Rocketman than Bohemian Rhapsody, but fans gave the Rami Malek/Freddie Mercury movie an A CinemaScore vs. A- for Taron Egerton/Elton John. The Rotten Tomatoes Audience Scores are just about the same so far, but Bohemian has way more overall ratings, so there's no way to compare that fairly quite yet.

Bohemian Rhapsody just kept making money week after week, especially overseas, and also picked up some Oscars. Bohemian Rhapsody made $216.4 million at the domestic box office, which is impressive enough, but it picked up a staggering $687 million at foreign markets for an overall total of $903,655,259. No one saw that coming, and no one expects to see it again anytime soon.

A Star Is Born was also an R-rated music movie -- although not a music biopic -- and it made $42.9 million in its October 2018 opening. Worldwide, it went on to make $434 million.

Rocketman has controversy hurdles to pass, though, when it comes to markets like Russia where gay content is censored. It's possible the censorship will make some fans more eager to buy tickets to support the film anyway in protest. Who knows. As of now, Paramount says it's releasing the film uncut around the world, but local distributors follow their own laws.

Will Rocketman see Oscar glory like Bohemian Rhapsody? The release date will hurt it there, since Rocketman is likely to be lost in the pack once the fall movies arrive. But we'll see. Keep up with everything heading to theaters this year with our 2019 movie release guide.

Alita: Battle Angel Director Got Hundreds Of Pages Of Notes From James Cameron

Alita: Battle Angel Director Got Hundreds Of Pages Of Notes From James Cameron

James Cameron famously worked on bringing the Battle Angel Alita manga to life on the big screen for the better part of two decades, with the can getting continually kicked down the road due to development issues and Cameron's busy schedule. When the Titanic director finally handed off his passion project to director Robert Rodriguez to go hang out in the world of Pandora, he made sure that all the work he put in on Alita: Battle Angel was not for naught.

Robert Rodriguez told Digital Spy that James Cameron generously promised not to send him the 1,000 pages of notes he had done on Alita: Battle Angel, instead stating that he would only send him a meager 600 pages. Robert Rodriguez naively took this figure as a jest, only to find out that James Cameron was quite serious when a tome of notes for Alita: Battle Angel, 600 pages in width, arrived in the mail.

It just goes to show how much James Cameron cares about Alita and the ridiculous amount of work he put in over the years to get it right and bring it to the big screen. He obviously put a lot of thought into adapting the property and likely learned a ton of valuable lessons along the way.

So by giving Robert Rodriguez hundreds of pages of notes on the film, and a 15-minute presentation, artwork and story concepts, James Cameron gave Robert Rodriguez a head start and set him up for success. Robert Rodriguez ultimately was the one who directed the film, but all those notes had to help, even if they were somewhat overwhelming.

It’s like a group project in college: even if you’re the one saddled with writing the paper, it sure makes things easier when your group members do all of the research for you.

Intriguingly, James Cameron’s 600 of pages of notes, culled from 1,000, encompass a much larger vision than just one movie, as Robert Rodriguez explained:

There's like one whole document about the trilogy, because that's just part of his process. 'Here are three movies. Just so you know what to include in the first story and whatnot.'

James Cameron’s vision for Alita: Battle Angel extends beyond just one film and he already has it all laid out on paper, like what to include in the first movie and what will be saved for later. At a time when big franchises don’t always seem like they are operating with a firm plan or guiding vision in place, this is quite exciting.

The ending of the first film definitely whets the appetite to see what happens next and where the story goes. James Cameron knows the answer to that and has already mapped out a whole Alita trilogy, but whether he as producer and director Robert Rodriguez will get to tell it though is unknown.

Alita: Battle Angel is still Number 5 on the worldwide box office charts in 2019, but it’s unclear if that will be enough. Although domestic audiences did the film no favors, international box office elevated Alita’s worldwide run to $404.8 million. However, given its budget, the film may have needed $500 million to break even. So although it didn’t flop like it was suspected to, it isn’t an outright success either, making its sequel chances unclear.

If it doesn’t get a sequel, maybe James Cameron can just publish his notes as a very heavy book and we can all get a look at what might have been. If you’d like to see Alita: Battle Angel get a sequel though, it finally arrives on digital on July 9 and on Blu-ray, DVD and Ultra HD 4K on July 23.

Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to keep track of all of this year’s biggest movies.

Shazam!’s Official Rotten Tomatoes Score Revealed

Shazam!’s Official Rotten Tomatoes Score Revealed

April is going to be a bigger month than usual when it comes to movies based on comic book heroes. While we, of course, have the massive Avengers: Endgame closing out the month, we also have Hellboy before that. However, the first superhero movie out of the gate next month will be DC's Shazam! and if the film's reviews are any indication for what is to come, April will be a very good month. The film has already been certified fresh by Rotten Tomatoes  with a RT score of 93%.

Of the 81 reviews that have been submitted to the aggregation site, so far 75 of them are considered positive, giving Shazam! a lot of positive buzz going into next week's big opening. It's a pretty impressive result considering the movie is still a week away. There will certainly be many more reviews to come between now and next Friday, Shazam! only has a fraction of the total number of reviews that your average wide release film receives, but if the ratio holds up, it will remain looking strong.

While Shazam! may not have quite as many reviews as some of the other recent box office movies, as a percentage, it's one of the best reviewed films in recent weeks. The 93% score puts Shazam! ahead of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, and Captain Marvel. It's only one point behind Jordan Peele's Us.

CinemaBlend's own review of Shazam! is one of those being counted in the plus column. Our review, and many others, praised Shazam! for the way it was able to be both a light-hearted and fun story while still being the rousing superhero adventure that audiences are seemingly always in the mood for.

The power that the Tomatometer has over the audience is difficult to actually gauge, but there are certainly those that believe it has a huge sway over the moviegoing public. Many in Hollywood have taken aim at the site in recent years, believing that it has the power to cause audiences to dismiss movies out of hand if the majority of reviews are bad, rather than give them a chance.

While critical reviews and box office numbers might frequently be in agreement, it's certainly true that they can quite frequently conflict as well. Many movies that critics love fail to capture a massive audience. Just as many movies that critics pan become box office juggernauts. While Rotten Tomatoes may have some of the power that critics claim, it's certainly not absolute.

Does the Rotten Tomatoes score really matter to you? Let us know in the poll below if Shazam! current score is influencingyour decision to see the movie.