Dwayne Johnson, Mark Wahlberg & Anthony Mackie in Paramount Pictures’ ‘Pain & Gain’

Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson add immensity to the term “movie buff” as their new action-crime-comedy, “Pain & Gain,” hits theaters this weekend.

In the Michael Bay film, Wahlberg and Johnson play body builders who hatch a meatheaded plan to extort money from rich guys in early 90s Miami Beach. When these American dreamers turn out to be nightmarish thugs, all sorts of mayhem ensues.

We all know Wahlberg and The Rock will fill up the big screen, but here’s five facts about “Pain & Gain” that you may not know.

Left to right: Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson in ‘Get Smart’ (2008) and on the set of ‘Pain & Gain’.

The Rock Needs Food!

1. If you’ve ever seen The Rock throw “The People’s Elbow,” you may have thought he could simply walk off the wrestling mat and be ready to play a body builder on set. But that’s not the case. According to USA Today, besides upping his workout regime, the 6’4″ former wrestler put on “12 to 15 pounds of muscle” by going on a crazy calorie binge that amounted to seven full meals a day, topping out at over 250 pounds.. Here’s how he divvied up his daily allowance of “good complex carbs and protein/fat sources.”

• Breakfast: 10-ounce beef fillet, 2 cups of oatmeal, two-egg omelet.
• Brunch: 8 ounces of cod, 12 ounces of sweet potatoes, 1 cup of steamed veggies.
• Half lunch: 8 ounces of chicken (we’re assuming not fried), 2 cups of white rice, 1 cup of veggies.
• Lunch: 8 more ounces of cod, 2 cups of rice, 1 cup of veggies.
• Lunner (or maybe dunch): 8 ounces of steak, 12 ounces of baked potato fries, a salad.
• Dinner: 10 more ounces of cod (really, can you ever get enough cod?) 2 more cups of rice, another salad.
• Late-night snack: 30 grams of casein protein powder, 10-egg-white omelet (yes, 10!), 1 cup of veggies, a tablespoon of Omega-3 to wash it down.

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson doing his ‘Got Milk’ ad for the Milk Processor Education Program

Got Milk?

2. After going 150 days on that diet without cheating, The Rock broke his fast in the grandest of fashions. According to Muscle & Strength, Johnson went on a three round eating bender that consisted of 12 pancakes, followed by four “double dough pepperoni pizzas,” followed by 21 brownies and a jug of milk. Apparently The Rock isn’t much into moderation.

 Getting Stronger

3. Wahlberg did his own share of heavy eating to pack on muscle for the role. “I was eating 10 meals a day and drinking mass gainers,” Wahlberg told E Online. “It was a lot of work. A lot of getting up at 2 in the morning to eat another meal and I was still full from the meal at 10 o’clock.” The hard work paid off though, as according to Muscle & Strength, Wahlberg now benches 335 pounds. Interestingly, the same article also notes that Wahlberg doesn’t believe in direct ab workouts and achieves his famous six-pack through light ab work only. You can hear Wahlberg and The Rock talk about working out in the Insider Access video above.

 Slumming It

4. With “Transformers,” “Bad Boys,” and “Armageddon,” director Michael Bay has secured a reputation for huge movie making. According to Box Office Mojo, his last three pictures — “Transformers” 1, 2, and 3 — had a combined budget of $545 million. With “Pain & Gain,” Bay has dialed it back a bit; the film has a relatively paltry budget of $25 million. To cut some production costs, Bay filmed portions of the movie at his own Miami mansion. You can see some of Bay’s home in the trailer above.

Dwayne Johnson, Tony Shalhoub and Mark Wahlberg in Paramount Pictures’ ‘Pain & Gain’

Not Everyone’s Laughing

5. “Pain & Gain,” which is based on the true story of the Sun Gym Gang, is being marketed as a dark comedy. But many of those affected by the gang’s real life criminal actions don’t think it’s a laughing matter. One of the gang’s victims, Marc Schiller (portrayed by Tony Shalhoub) finds the film’s comedic tone particularly disturbing. “I was significantly tortured: tasered, burned, beatings, guns to the head, Russian roulette… there’s a whole list of things. And then obviously at the end they tried to kill me. And it wasn’t that funny when they tried to kill me,” Schiller told the Huffington Post.

This is a ridiculous, misanthropic film. 

Michael Bay is a well-known fan of the Coen brothers. He frequently casts Coen regulars (John Turturro and Frances McDormand for example) and sometimes seems to flirt with some of their human-hating dark humor from time to time. Even in kids’ movies like Transformers. In Pain & Gain, Bay returns to the world of R rated high saturation ridiculousness that he left behind for ten years to do progressively worse giant robot movies. This is the world where Bay belongs, however. This means that Pain & Gain is here to remind us what the guy can do with obnoxious, somehow nuanced, vulgarity when he feels like it.

One of the things I like about Bay is how unafraid he is to mock his own trademarks. 

Pain & Gain isn’t some kind of masterpiece, but it is definitely the most 90′s movie of 2013. That has to count for something, right?

It’s a very funny, very entertaining film with a bevy of great performances. It’s basically a cinematic list of great lines, scenes, and small beats that keeps piling on itself and rarely lets up. To get a bit more sophisticated for a moment, it is also a great companion piece to Spring Breakers. This movie is also showing us a great big mirror held up to a dimension of the American psyche with much wit but little judgment. Like Spring Breakers, I think Pain & Gain has a very high potential to be misunderstood and championed by a crop of idiots for whom this movie has a condescending affection. They will want to be just like Daniel Lugo and fail to realize that not only is Lugo a sociopathic monster, this movie isn’t shy about it.

It is also worth mentioning that I read the articles this film was based on and it is fairly faithful from what I can remember. I read the pieces back when this movie was first announced. Pain & Gain might be the most entertainingly bizarre “true story” movie ever made.

This movie is sort of a present for people who like Mark Wahlberg.

Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) is a half-smart gym trainer who aspires to be a lot more. He’s the classic scumbag who is just smart enough to bamboozle dumber people but not quite smart enough to realize that he is being bamboozled just as often. He’s the kind of guy who doesn’t realize that self-help gurus often make money on the saps who listen to them, not on some secret they discovered beforehand. Ken Jeong has an extended cameo as Johnny Wu, exactly the sort of guy Lugo listens to and wishes he could be. That the audience is (or should be) clued into what Wu is all about divorces them from Lugo’s obliviousness and shows him for the fool he is. I just hope that’s what most people get from this because there is no sense that Lugo, in real life or as depicted, is at all heroic. Entertaining? Yes. You want to see his adventures and antics precisely because he’s entertaining and his interactions with Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson) and Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) are so consistently hilarious.

This is something Wahlberg brings to the table alongside the film’s approach to the story. Pain & Gain is a crazy story and a lot is made of how unbelievable it all is. Pete Collins’ articles could have been approached in a way more straightforward way. It’s to Bay and his writers’ (Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely) credit that they decided instead to focus on just that unbelievability and commit to it utterly. This makes scenes that probably didn’t happen (Lugo and the kids) play out in a way that feels consistent to the characterization and tone while also being as bewildering and entertaining as pretty much anything else that happens.

Kershaw is a great Bayhem character.

As Lugo uses his low-grade cunning to help Sun Gym up its profile, to the delight of owner John Mese (Rob Corddry), he starts training Vic Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub). Kershaw is a self-made man in exactly the kind of way that Johnny Wu probably isn’t. Rather than “generously” sharing his secrets, Kershaw has a chip on his shoulder as deep as the Marianas and wastes no opportunity to be a staggering prick about everything. Lugo is just another loser to him and the film suggests that its Lugo’s deep-rooted envy combined with Kershaw’s arrogance that sets his whole whacky scheme off. Lugo decides to stage a kidnapping, have Kershaw sign over his assets, and then get away with it all by preserving his anonymity. To get this done, he recruits his best friend Adrian (a moronic juicer with erectile dysfunction) and the recently freed Paul Doyle (a big, lovable born-again with impulse control issues). Lugo is a gifted liar and uses every inch of that gift to string his friends, and everyone else, along. They hold Kershaw for weeks. He refuses to break and even forms a twisted friendship with Paul. When he finally does break, they ineffectually attempt to kill him and make it look like an accident. He survives, though, which is actually deepens the menace in the movie instead of alleviating it.

The cops don’t take Kershaw seriously so he reaches out to a private investigator, Ed Dubois (Ed Harris) who is retired and feels like a bit of a cliche. He’s the most cinematic character in the movie, kind of, the quintessential retired cop/retired detective who takes on one last case on instinct, though at first he has the same incredulous reaction to Kershaw’s story as the police did. One of the points the movie returns to is that the cops really dropped the ball and take a lot of responsibility for the further misdeeds of Lugo and his “gang”.

As much as Lugo sucks at being a criminal (and boy does he), he was really good at working for Sun Gym. In another life, Lugo could have become a fitness guru not dissimilar from Johnny Wu (who is more a “boats and bitches” guru apparently) and really had the empire he so desperately wants. The fun of the movie, though, is in just how badly Lugo and friends fuck things up. The film is structured as a series of progressively more bizarre and intensely stupid misadventures. Every time it threatens to turn into something more pedestrian, Paul does some coke or robs an armored car and the movie is back off anything resembling rails. This is a good thing.

Everybody in the movie is good but The Rock fucking owns.

Pain & Gain is a pretty stylish movie but is light on gimmicks or Bay’s characteristic touches. One of the gimmicks that works surprisingly well is the voiceover. In conventional wisdom, voiceover is a crutch used by lesser screenwriters who can’t get the message across with staging. In this movie, Bay and the writers show how little they care about that conventional wisdom and give every major character their own voiceover. Sometimes this is broken up and you don’t hear any for a few scenes, other times the voiceover swings from character to character in the same scene. It’s one of the ways we get introduction to these people, and it’s actually an excellent delivery system for comedy. I usually don’t mind well-done voiceover in a movie and here it’s so much a part of the joke that it feels irreplaceable. It’s actually kind of stunning how well it’s woven between the characters, it’s almost like the movie is doing third-person omniscient. I think the last movie I remember that did something similar (besides Detention but, well, y’know) was Election.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Michael Bay and I’m glad he’s got movies like Pain & Gain still in him. This is a movie that is preoccupied with an exaggerated definition of not only the “American Dream” (which is often referred to) but in a warped definition of masculinity. In Lugo’s world, a real man has the sculpted body of a God first and everything else should follow from that. It’s a sort of entitlement that might seem a bit foreign to younger people, but it does make you understand Lugo’s mentality and just how twisted he really is (if you’re paying enough attention anyway). Though this movie enjoys its idiotic, violent criminals it doesn’t try to glorify them. They glorify themselves and the movie is happy to stand back and watch it happen. This is very familiar after seeing Spring Breakers but I imagine it’s hard for audiences to get a good handle on. I mean, we are far more used to anti-hero stories (or at least misinterpreting satire as heroism, see Scarface) that would have made Lugo and friends a tragic story of things simply getting out of hand. They definitely do get out of hand, but it isn’t because of cosmic unfairness or oppression but because of stupidity, shortcuts, and the entitlement of the American Dream.

Broad irony is something Bay occasionally does very well, if never subtly.

Like I keep saying, a lot of people are going to miss the irony of Pain & Gain even if they grasp that this is not a movie where we’re supposed to root for Lugo and his buddies (at least too much). It’s sort of hard not to root for Paul and as he is somehow the funniest and also least culpable of the three, the movie is okay with this and it gives you permission to be as well. His ending is downright pleasing, in some ways, because while movie Paul Doyle might be different from real-life Paul Doyle, you get a sense that this is basically a man who means well but is too gullible, stupid, and caught up in his addictions to have the fortitude to withstand a man like Daniel Lugo. Lugo and Adrian are simply numbskulls who overreach and deserve exactly what happens to them. Lugo started out as a wannabe white collar hustler, which we can more or less get behind as long as he learns a lesson, but this film makes sure you understand that this guy is like a serial killer: fantasy and small potatoes are not going to be enough forever.

Wahlberg has our attention if not our sympathy, then, and while Pain & Gain is way past hard lines of good guys and bad guys (far more like a Coens film this way), there is a sense to which Lugo’s path is carefully structured so that things go really bad around the third act and the dawning realization that there’s no redemption for him is a late one. It’s a delicate balancing act and I appreciate this approach to the story on pure entertainment grounds. You have to get people to like Lugo (at least) enough to follow him through a movie where he essentially does bad things to people because of envy, greed, and self-entitled delusion. You have to kind of hope he’ll make a turn-around or someone more morally reprehensible than he is will turn up. That character never appears because Lugo is the only real monster in the movie. Adrian is his dupe, Paul is a stooge, and Kershaw is an Ari Gold-level asshole.

Rebel Wilson fits perfectly well in a Bay movie somehow.

Pain & Gain is the kind of movie where you and your friends quote or refer to scenes for days after seeing it. Dwayne Johnson’s cokehead scenes are flat-out worth the movie on their own. He steals the movie but also shows more of his acting muscle (sorry I had to) than the other kind. He always seems just on the verge of breaking out of the “omg he large” mold of action/comedy that he’s done so far. Roles like this and his small one in Be Cool (which started a lot of the buzz he had for a while as a REAL LIVE ACTOR) should open more doors for him if he chooses to go through them. I for one would love to see that. This is a movie where, if it had more Coen DNA, you’d feel the same sort of detached bemusement for Paul Doyle as you did for Brad Pitt’s character in Burn After Reading (they are similar in some ways after all). Instead, Johnson completely wins you over and it’s a special sort of magic that this doesn’t undermine the movie’s ironic affection for the characters.

Bay will never be a classy sort of director, and he shouldn’t be. He’s a step above your standard schlock director and is willing to go places and show you things that you’d never thought you’d see let alone enjoy on some twisted level. He’s a reveler in the vulgar, saturated dimensions of the culture that produced him. He’s an interesting motherfucker, in other words, and he makes very interesting movies, too, even when they suck.

Luckily Pain & Gain doesn’t suck.

“Pain and Gain” is the story of three personal trainers who, in pursuit of the American dream, get tangled in an extortion and kidnapping scheme that eventually goes horribly wrong.

A dark comedy with plenty of action, the film was directed by Michael Bay and shot primarily in South Florida.

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“With it being real, and then funny, and then tragic, what was the balance like for you as the director?” CBS4′s Lisa Petrillo asked director Michael Bay.

“You have to keep it believable. You show the absurdity, you show these are criminals and show their delusions,” said Michael Bay. “What I like is the gray area because you see it from criminal minds as well the cops perspective. These criminals think we’re just taking money, we’re not doing anything bad. We deserve this.”

Mark Wahlberg plays Danny Lugo, the real life trainer who concocted a plan that eventually led to the murder of a Miami couple.

Dwayne Johnson plays Paul Doyle, a bit of a goof who is easily influenced by bad ideas. Adrian Doorbal, played by Anthony Mackie, is Lugo’s sidekick.

“Everything about it was appealing except some people were obviously affected in very horrible way, so we were hyper sensitive to that, ” said Wahlberg, “but to have these outrageous characters , as an actor, it’s too good to pass up an opportunity like that  because they don’t come around that often.”

Actor Dwayne Johnson agreed with Wahlberg, “It’s not every day we have opportunities like this where you have original material and outrageous characters. For me I was jumping at the opportunity for something like this.”

Anthony Mackie knew that working with both Wahlberg and Johnson would be a pivotal moment in his career.

“If you look at it, Mark and Dwayne,  two  of the biggest stars in the business right now, and Michael (Bay) hasn’t had a miss yet, so I when I read the script, it was a no brainer that I would want to be involved with them in a project.”

Tony Shalhoub plays Victor Kershaw, an unlikeable guy who survived more than a month of torture from the trio.

“How did he make it through all that?” asked Petrillo.

“I think a lot of it had to do with his spite and disdain for his 3 assistants. He was so resentful it became a battle of wills,” said Shalhoub.

For Wahlberg and Johnson, this movie was all about doing something neither had done before and that’s what keeps it exciting.

“For me, as an actor, I want to be challenged, I want to push the envelope. I want to get crazy!” laughed Wahlberg.

“It was a big departure for me by the way,” explained Johnson. “I know it was a big departure for audiences too, so if I could grab that opportunity and nail it, hopefully they’d be satisfied. Then, we had a good shot at making something really good “

Pain and Gain, rated R, hits theaters Friday April 26th.

Pain & Gain is the true story of a gang of murderous bodybuilders, staring Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Mackie and directed by Michael Bay. Believe it or not, this is a Bay film I’d actually like to see, and one that I think a lot of audiences will be interested. A mix of black humour and action, there’s lots of buzz surrounding Pain & Gain, which should mean strong numbers for the weekend. Look for The Rock to be back on top of the box office (following G.I. Joe: Retaliation) with a $45 million opening weekend.

Find out how the rest of the top five will turn out after the jump!
The Big Wedding features an ensemble cast that includes Robin Williams, Diane Keaton, Robert DeNiro, Susan Sarandon and Katherine Heigl. All talented actors, but ones that aren’t really box office draws anymore. These sorts of films can be crap shoots, and one is never to certain how they’ll perform. Look for a fourth place finish with $9 million.

As for the rest of the top five, Oblivion will fall to second place with $20 million, 42 will hit third with $11 million while The Croods will close things out $8 million.

So, to recap, here are our predictions:

1) Pain & Gain – $45 million
2) Oblivion – $20 million
3) 42 – $11 million
4) The Big Wedding – $9 million
5) The Croods – $8 million

Be sure to check back on Sunday to see how the weekend turns out.

The minute you’ve sat in your seat and the film begins to play on the silver screen ahead of you, it’s obvious that you’ve walked into a Michael Bay film. As has come to be expected whenever Bay releases a new film, the movie is brimming with gorgeous ladies strutting around pools in skimpy bikinis, polished and glimmering sports cars, and shirtless muscular men. Not to mention the plethora of quick cuts and his reliance on juvenile humor as comedic relief. Surprisingly though, Bay manages to show restraint and not blow up every truck on screen. In fact, there might not be a single explosion in the entire film, as hard as that is to believe. However, if Pain & Gain is Bay at his most restrained then the films serves as further proof that Bay’s direction is too zealous for his own good.

Watching the film I couldn’t help but wonder if Bay suffers from ADHD because he simply cannot set the camera down. Almost every shot in the film is some sort of elaborate tracking shot, or a 360 degree StediCam shot around two characters heads, or even shots that go an entire lap around a room, entering and exiting through a bullet-hole in the glass. It’s almost as if he has a grudge against putting down the camera and letting the shot breath, or as if he didn’t have faith in his actors or the script and tried to distract the audience with intricate camera movements. No matter the explanation, the result remains the same and the results aren’t great.

However, Pain & Gain’s biggest issue is its uneven tone and the way in which Bay chooses to tell this true story. For the first half or so of the film Bay seems to have crafted a light and funny crime story about a few well meaning, bumbling idiots who get in way over their heads. After about an hour, though, the movie takes a ninety-degree turn into some extremely dark territory involving murder and the disposing of bodies. It’s an extremely sudden change that makes you realize that this true story is much more than a comedic crime caper – it’s a serious story about one man’s complete dedication towards achieving the American Dream, a man who is so determined to be rich and successful that he’s willing to do anything to attain his goal. It seems odd that Bay would take such a dark story and try and ring out as many laughs from it as possible, simply because the main characters are pretty stupid. Don’t get me wrong, the story is inherently funny, but the events it depicts are serious enough to warrant a more dramatic approach to the material. Had this script fallen into a more competent director’s hands we may have been graced with a grim meditation on the American Dream and the lengths people go to make it big. We could have been privy to a depiction of the dark underbelly of the American Dream and those it negatively influences. Instead, we’re left with a Michael Bay film that can’t decide whether it wants to be a comedy about criminals or a comedic crime story.

In the end, Pain & Gain is an unfortunate disappointment. Hopes were high that this would be a return to form for Bay, that a smaller, more contained story may reel in some of Bay’s more excessive directorial choices but these hopes proved false. While the film is far from bad – it contains some memorable performances from Mark Whalberg, The Rock, and Anthony Mackie – and is consistently entertaining, its faults constantly outweigh its merits. The film is much longer than it needs to be, running at almost two hours and fifteen minutes, and Michael Bay simply was the wrong choice to tell this story. It’s a shallow film that spends more time worrying about how good it looks rather than the story it’s trying to tell. It’s a shame, because underneath all of Bay’s spinning shots and dick jokes there’s a really great story waiting for a serious director to give it the treatment it deserves.

6/10 

Review by James Hausman

“Surgery a success! Dr. repaired 3 hernial tears (fun pain). Superman is on the mend,” Johnson wrote.

The April 7th match was watched by 80,000 people at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

The operation caused Johnson, 40, to miss the “Pain & Gain” premiere in Los Angeles where director Michael Bay issued his well-wishes from the red carpet.

“Dwayne’s hurt tonight. He was pushing it too hard. [He] needs to grow up and stop wrestling 300-pound men,” Bay joked to E! News.

Johnson had announced the trip to the hospital to his fans on Sunday with typical “Rock” aplomb. “Saw my Dr. who had to push my intestines back through the tear in my abdomen. Kinda romantic. #Bringiton,” he wrote.

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Yes that is right ladies and gentleman, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (aka Lady La’s future husband), is out of the hospital and recovering from emergency surgery. He tore his abductor and abdomen muscles during his WWE Champion title fight against John Cena. But do not fear because he is healing wonderfully! He tweeted a picture of himself wearing a Superman shirt letting fans know the surgery went well!

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Look love we both know what’s going on here.

I know you don’t exist, you know you don’t exist yet somehow everyone’s writing you flippin’ letters. So here goes.

There are a few things we need to clear up. Firstly and most importantly:

WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD’S GREEN EARTH DO YOU DO WITH ALL THOSE TEETH WOMAN? 

I imagine you have already made a toothy grotto (yuk). Lots and lots of delightful necklaces.  You probably keep a few incisors in a jam jar of coca cola on the windowsill gently rotting away to sludge. After that I’m at a complete loss as to what to do with the thousands of pearly whites you must have bought.  Are you in the back yard splashing about in a fang filled swimming pool?

You should probably check out some of the amazing craft blogs for ideas (gnasher stuffed teddy bear perhaps?)  better still get in touch with the producers of Hoarders.  I would love a tour around your molar strewn home I’m sure other people would too.

Moving on:

No one writes letters anymore.

What is it with you and Santa? Get an email address love. Somebody with your profile should at least be on twitter. #youprobablyalreadyarebuticantbearsedtogoogleit

Please clarify your terms and conditions.

I’ve asked around and there seems to be some confusion about exactly how you work.

What is the going rate for a small child’s first tooth? Does the tooth need to be under the pillow? What happens when a tooth is lost?

Look Sweetie you’re dealing with young children here you really need to be more consistent in your work. I understand there must be time constraints, but how long have you been doing this now?

Sometimes you write back, sometimes you don’t. Some children find a trail of fairy dust, other children nothing. Seriously are you drinking on the job?

It’s the only explanation I can think of for such shoddy workmanship. If I were your boss (which I’m not cos, oh yeah, you don’t exist) I’d be asking some difficult questions at your next performance review.

And another thing. It’s glitter, not fairy dust you daft pixie. I’ve seen it in the shops (Poundland if you’re wondering).

Finally one last question.

Why did you lend your name to that dreadful film?

Does Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson have fairy dirt on you? Next time Hollywood calls take some advice from your Hobbit mates first.

That is all.

Kind Regards,

Eeh Bah Mum

For years, the professional wrestling world has been in awe of Dwayne “The  Rock” Johnson simply because what he has achieved in his wrestling career. He’s  been a WWE champion in wrestling and also been  Hollywood’s favourite for some time. Now he has added a very special  award to his illustrious career.

Johnson was recognized by the University of Miami’s(UM)  Alumni association last Thursday night at the Alumnus of distinction award  during an awards ceremony at the UM campus.

The awards program honours alumni (former  students) who have been successful in their field or have made a significant  impact through community service. The “Alumnus of Distinction” is the  highest honour that a UM graduate can receive for personal and  professional achievements that bring honour to the university.

The Rock continues to help the University of Miami. In  the past he has generously donated to the UM’s Alumni centre and the  Football facilities renovation fund. It was noted to be the largest donation ever given to the university’s athletics department by a former  student.

Credit: sportskeeda.com

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Johnson was recognized by the UM Alumni Association with the Edward T. Foote, II Alumnus of distinction award during an awards ceremony at the UM campus in Coral Gables Thursday night.

The awards program seeks out alumni who have been successful in their field or have made a significant impact through community service. The biennial alumni awards also recognize individuals and groups who have been actively involved with the University or Alumni Association throughout the year.

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The “Alumnus of Distinction” is the highest honor that a UM graduate can receive for personal and professional achievements that bring honor to the university.

The Rock happens to be quite the philanthropist and continues to support the University of Miami. He has generously donated to the UM’s Alumni Center and the Football Facilities renovation fund. It was noted as the largest donation ever given to the university’s athletics department by former students.  The University of Miami renamed the Hurricanes’ locker room in Johnson’s honor.

“It’s important to give back because Miami has made me into the Man I am today…taught me about hard work, discipline and sacrifice, but most importantly how to lose graciously and win graciously and humbly” said Johnson. So I went from that kid…to receiving this award,”

Still, it wasn’t always easy for The Rock either in college of the WWE.

“I had a challenging time staying on the right path, it was tough for me, I just had surgery…I got injured on the football field and I was placed on academic probation” is how Johnson described his freshman year at UM.

Even when the Rock got to the WWE, he struggled at first finding a niche. Then, the Rock personality began to show through and he exploded onto the scene during the WWE’s Attitude Era.

To this day, Johnson is still one of the most popular characters in WWE history. He just headlined a second-straight Wrestlemania earlier this month, falling to John Cena in the main event.

“I come from a family of wrestlers, my father and my grandfather. There’s a cool lineage there,” Johnson said. “But after that I wanted to grow and have a career and I wanted to act, but I wanted to become a good actor with a  diverse filmography, work with great directors and make good movies.”

Johnson worked during his WWE career to become an actor and has since made multiple box office blockbusters including the Scorpion King and Pain & Gain, his latest movie.

Dir: Jon M. Chu

Synopsis: Because we didn’t suffer enough the first time round, the G.I. Joe squad is back for another film based on Hasbro toys. The Joes are framed and have to retaliate. Hence the title. Oh, and The Rock’s here for some reason.

★½

An early scene in this long-delayed sequel to 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra features Channing Tatum and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson playing Call of Duty, telegraphing a clear indication of the tone of the next two hours: Retaliation plays out exactly like that hackneyed game, from its vague plot to its stereotypical characters to its wooden dialogue. Johnson even not-so-subtly namedrops one of the Call of Duty game modes at one point.

The narrative runs thin, as should be expected, with nary a curveball thrown. It’s standard Joes vs. Cobra action, only this time one of the bad guys has disguised himself as the President of the United States (cue Jonathan Pryce stealing the show from everyone). Where some films expect you to have watched the predecessor thirty minutes before entering the cinema for the sequel, others are kind enough to give you a quick recap at the start. G.I. Joe somehow sits somewhere in the middle, refusing to tell us a few vital points (ludicrous considering how forgettable the first film was), while what we are told is done in a manner so insulting it’ll be a surprise if even the target audience of 11-year old boys don’t realise Hollywood’s just labelled them all idiots.

The official reason for the film’s 9-month delay in release was a post-production 3D conversion that predictably means lots of things being thrown at the screen – which, as ever, is okay with the glasses on but looks nothing short of royally daft in two dimensions. Still, it’s not all bad – even if you do end up laughing at it rather than with it. ‘Highlights’ include black Stig with Uzis getting beaten up by white Stig with ninja stars, and Bruce Willis continuing his coming-out-of-retirement action hero shtick.

There’s so very little to enjoy here that you may be wondering why I’ve awarded it a mighty one and a half stars (‘SLIGHTLY LESS CRAP’) at all. ‘Isn’t it just ‘CRAP’?!’ I hear you cry. Well, yes. But while even some of the supposedly adrenaline-fuelled action scenes will bore you to tears, the attempts of Jonathan Pryce to bring the rest of the picture up to his level mean I can’t possibly just give it the one star.

Take that extra half star, Jonathan. You’ve earned it. Everyone else: please just don’t bother with that sequel teased at the end. PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE.

G.I Joe: Recycled

Hasbro movies are a guilty pleasure of mine, but I hated G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The modest pleasures that come with these movies were non-existent, even the visual effects were poor. This sequel however, is better than its predecessor, which isn’t saying much.

In G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the Joes are framed for stealing nuclear warheads from a Pakistani compound and disavowed. Their army base is raided and Joes Roadblock, Flint and Lady Jaye are the only survivors. They are forced out on the run to prove their innocence and stop Cobra from gaining control over all nuclear weapons.

Sounds familiar? That’s because it is. They’ve essentially remade Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and called it G.I. Joe: Retaliation. They both follow the exact same mould: Classified government force is framed for a crime they didn’t commit and disavowed, the main protagonists are the only survivors and go on the run to prove their innocence and prevent an all-out nuclear war. There’s little difference between them, and it’s proof that Hollywood needs to start thinking of new plot twists for their movies.

It shouldn’t be so hard to follow either. The script is overstuffed with plot points and characters that are barely explained, let alone fleshed out. It makes the whole thing look like an incoherent hodgepodge. The first hour of the movie feels like twice that long, dragging on with nothing important to keep the plot going.

The greatest strength this movie has is its action sequences, which are more fluid and less CG-reliant than its predecessor. The best and most memorable scene is easily the ninja battle, where we Snake Eyes and the Red Ninjas battle it out along a massive slope in the Himalayas using only zip wires.

Some cast members also prove to be a saving grace. In particular, the movie benefits from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s paradox of being one of the gentlest souls with killing instincts, which has saved every other franchise he’s touched. Bruce Willis is underused here, though he delivers the old school action goods in the time he gets to shoot em’ up. The rest aren’t particularly special.

Retaliation is certainly better than its overly serious, self indulgent predecessor, but what isn’t? The squabbling for nuclear weapons is almost a metaphor for Hollywood cannibalising itself for plot devices, and an example of high stakes with little engagement. Seriously, London gets blown to bits and you’ll simply say “meh”.

* * *

Tomatometer for G.I. Joe: Retaliation: 28% “Rotten”
Metascore for G.I. Joe: Retaliation: 41/100 “Mixed or average reviews”
IMDb rating for G.I. Joe: Retaliation: 6.3/10

That date is just more than a year after “Fast And Furious 6,” which opens May 24 and is still in postproduction, reports Deadline.com. The studio is doing its presentation for exhibitors right now and Diesel is part of the group unveiling footage from the upcoming pic, according to the website.

James Wan is in talks to helm the seventh installment of the franchise, which brings back longtime producer Neal H. Moritz of Original Film, and Chris Morgan is returning to write his fifth script and will be an exec producer.

Production on “7” starts in August — a fast turnaround that begins right after the stars finish publicity on No. 6.

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Are you ready for this? Take a quick deep breath. What do you think of when you see fast cars, Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson? Ding. Ding. Ding.  Universal has announced, just weeks short of their Fast & Furious 6 release that they are already working on the number 7 movie!

Have you seen the trailer for #6? See it here:

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Of course hunky actor Dwayne Johnson did his own stunts in his new film “Pain & Gain” with Mark Wahlberg. Have you seen those muscles?!

“We both have great stunt doubles, but with a movie like this, the authenticity was important, so we were down to do our own stunts and it’s not a stunt-heavy movie to begin with, it’s more character-driven,” Dwayne shared with E! News. “But when it required me to jump three, four stories off the building—bring in the stunt man!”

We are just 5 days removed from the most predictable WrestleMania in years and probably the best Monday Night Raw in it’s 20 year history and a TON of things to talk about!!  This week has been good to Vince McMahon and the WWE.  WrestleMania 29 broke the record for the highest grossing entertainment event held in MetLife Stadium and the follow-up Monday Night Raw was BY FAR the most interactive and lively crowd the WWE has seen in years.  The two nights are amazing in that they were both put on by the same company and the results were so different.  If the WWE was looking to amazing at WrestleMania they failed.  However, if WWE was looking to make up for the fact that WrestleMania was so bland by having a great follow-up Raw they succeeded, but only because the crowd in the IZOD center let them, with that said here are my thoughts on the two events that may have changed the direction of the WWE for years to come.  Enjoy!!

*  Why the I.C. Championship match didn’t make the card is beyond me but it should have!!  I was really glad to see a good match and having The Miz win was a good direction for that title.  Or so I thought until Monday Night.

*  Why did the WWE think that having The Miz beat Wade Barrett on the WM pre-show and then having him lose the title the following night on Raw was a good idea?  That is bad booking and I have no idea how that helps either wrestler.

*  Speaking of a title that was not on the WM card, the U.S. Title should have been defended at WrestleMania.  Antonio Cesaro has been great with that title and deserved a spot on the show.

*  The Shield looked strong in their match with Big Show, Randy Orton, and Sheamus which I was glad to see because I think that the WWE was tempted to have The Shield lose.  The Shield has great momentum and needs to continue to win and even become a little more aggressive in their attacks.  It was be good to have some frustrated mid-carders join the group and for them to “hurt” a big named star that would get them more over.

*  I was hoping for a Randy Orton heel turn but instead we got another Big Show “angry giant” thing.  That was the WWE playing it safe.

*  The Ryback/Mark Henry match was rough.  clothesline, tackles, and body slams.

*  I’m pretty sure Ryback botched his main move when Mark Henry fell on him.  It didn’t look like that was supposed to happen.

*  I hated the fact that Henry won and then Ryback got the better of him after the match.  It was really kind of pointless to have Henry win if they were going to go that route.

*  I was totally expecting Ziggler and Big E to walk out of WrestleMania with the Tag titles.  I have mixed feelings on it because I love Team Hell No but it would have been awesome to have Ziggler holding 2 titles at one time.

*  Fun match nonetheless but I would have liked to see Ziggler and Big E walk out champions.

*  It was nice to see Big E get over on Raw but did anyone else catch him accidentally punch AJ on his way to the ring?  The look on his face is priceless.

*  The commercials during the show were really annoying and took away from having other matches on the card.

*  Why the WWE needs to remind us of what just happened in a match or repeatedly tell us what happened in the show and what’s to come is really annoying!!

*  Remember when the WWE was all about letting the stars and matches tell the stories? Who needs all these mini documentaries?

*  The Monday night before WrestleMania fans were chanting “You can’t wrestle,” and while the Fandango/Chris Jericho match was not the best on the card something happened to Fandango in the eyes of the fans in attendance and he has seriously gotten over!!

*  Fandango’s rise to the big time continued the next night on Raw as the fans were singing his theme song throughout the night and it has developed into a fad called Fandangoing!!  Here is the Houston Texans Cheerleaders doing it:

*  The WrestleMania match was not either wrestlers best and there were some serious misses, but overall I think Jericho went into the match to get Fandango over and he did that.

*  I like Alberto Del Rio but I think the WWE needs to package him in his element.  It feels like they are trying to hard with him.

*  I am NOT a Jack Swagger fan.

*  This match was good but my heart wasn’t really in it.  I (along with everyone in the room) were really waiting to see Dolph Ziggler cash in and that is what kept our attention.

*  The crowd at the Raw show went INSANE when Ziggler showed up to cash in on Del Rio after the his rematch with Swagger.  I will be honest I got excited too!!

*  So it looks like The Shield will be getting involved with the Undertaker and Team Hell No in some way.  Not sure how that will play out but I don’t doubt a tag title win by The Shield in the near future.

*  Speaking of the Undertaker.  His match with CM Punk was the best on the card at WrestleMania!!  Hands down Punk carried the match and overall it looked great!!

*  I’m glad the WWE keep the streak going.  I don’t think it should ever be beaten.

*  I think it’s good to have Punk rest for a month or so because he can be healed up and ready to go when he comes back.

*  I was glad to see Rhodes Scholar and Brodus Clay and Sweet T get their match that was bumped from WrestleMania.

*  Both of these teams are entertaining and could really push the tag division to the next level if the WWE would spend some time working the division.

*  The Triple H/Brock Lesnar match was what I expected.  Nothing fancy, just to guys beating the crap out of each other.  However I wish they would have gone to the next level.  There should have been more blood, more moves should have been used, and the pace of the match should have been a little better.

*  A good match overall but a bit slow and simple.

*  I was actually expecting Shawn Michaels to cost Triple H the match accidentally.

*  Paul Heyman should have been involved more.

*  Rock/John Cena was just like last years match.  The Rock is just not the wrestler he was 10 years ago!!

*  There were several times during the match you could see Cena calling the moves.  I just found that interesting.

*  The match was entertaining because I was with a great group of wrestling fans that made it so.  Overall I was bored with the match.  Everyone knew Cena was going over the question was just whether or not he would turn heel.

*  Speaking of turning heel, Cena’s promo the next night on Raw was epic for it’s mention of a “heel turn.”  Here it is if you missed it (he mentions it 3:22 into the promo:

*  Did The Rock really injure himself at WrestleMania?

*  From the reports I have heard he left and no one knew where he was until he decided to tweet about his injury.

*  I honestly think something happened and he was pissed about something.

*  However, I am not ruling out the possibility that The Rock was hurt, I just wonder like Carlito, if The Rock has been juicing lately because he has been injured several times since his WWE “return” and he hasn’t really done that much to warrant the injuries.

*  The WrestleMania match was good but predictable.

*  It was cool to see Ryback turn on Cena but I don’t think Ryback is the man that needs to feud with Cena.

*  Ryback has lost most (if not all) of his ppv matches since his big push.

*  I would love to see Cena in a feud with Big E, Damien Sandow, Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose, Darren Young (The Black John Cena), Randy Orton, Sheamus, Roman Reigns, or Daniel Bryan.

Overall the crowd at Raw was WAY BETTER than the one at Mania but the show was better too so I can’t blame them for being into it.  I am really looking forward to seeing how the WWE moves forward as several stars have gotten over in the last week that could really change the completion of the WWE.

That’s all for now.

Until next time.

Much love,

Shawn

p.s. I apologize for lack of post.  Work has been crazy.  Also we will be announcing this years Hall of Fame class in the coming days.

Shot primarily in South Florida, the Michael Bay directed action flick stars Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

The movie hits theaters April 26.

CBS4′s Lisa Petrillo was on the red carpet on premiere night. Click the video for more.

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Also, I’m looking to get away from Blip and will be posting more videos on Youtube since Blip doesn’t seem to be a big fan of Transformers and other Plastic Crack.

Here’s Part 1:

And Part 2:

Also, I’m looking to get away from Blip and will be posting more videos on Youtube since Blip doesn’t seem to be a big fan of Transformers and other Plastic Crack.

Here’s Part 1:

And Part 2:

I couldn’t believe that this match was up before the Tons Of Fun match, what a stupid way to end Wrestlemania 29. I looked online and the match disappeared off of wikipedia’s site which means it won’t end the night. Thank God!!! The match started with both men using the collar and elbow tie up followed by a shoulder tackle. John Cena and The Rock traded advantages through out the match, but Cena looked more impressive in the first part of the match. After ten minutes, Cena tried to do too much and the Rock ended up locking in the sharpshooter, but Cena countered it. Cena tried to hit the five knuckle shuffle, but the rock countered with a devastating ddt. He tried to hit the rock bottom, but Cena countered with an STFU. Cena would hit the five knuckle shuffle, but when he tried for the AA, the Rock countered with a spine buster.
He tried to do the people’s elbow, but Cena would stop him and he would lock in the STFU for real this time until the Rock powered out. Both men would hit their finishing moves only to see the other kick out of the pin attempt. The Rock would finally hit the people’s elbow, but Cena kicked out. At one point. I thought the match was going to end the same way it did last year, but with the opposite guy. Thank God it didn’t because that wouldn’t have been a great way to end the match. Cena tried to end the Rock’s reign with a rock bottom, but the Rock would kick out. Cena tried to sucker the Rock in by repeating last years fate, but he ended up getting rock bottomed, but it couldn’t get the job done. As i had predicted before the match, The Rock in the final moments of the match would try to hit the rock bottom, but Cena countered with an AA and he got the 1-2-3 for the win. John Cena is the new WWE Champion. After the match, instead of celebrating his victory, John left the ring for The Rock to say what could be his final goodbyes as the torch has been passed. I have a great new respect for John Cena after this match.