NEW INFO 5 Results from share redemption are posted. Less than .2% redeemed. Very bullish as investors are showing extreme confidence in the future of PLBY.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/playboy-mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-120000721.html
NEW INFO 4 Definitive Agreement to purchase 100% of Lovers brand stores announced 2/1.
https://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Playboy+%28MCAC%29+Confirms+Deal+to+Acquire+Lovers/17892359.html
NEW INFO 3 I bought more on the dip today. 5081 total. Price rose AH to $12.38 (2.15%)
NEW INFO 2 Here is the full webinar.
https://icrinc.zoom.us/rec/play/9GWKdmOYumjWfZuufW3QXpe_FW_g--qeNbg6PnTjTMbnNTgLmCbWjeRFpQga1iPc-elpGap8dnDv8Zww.yD7DjUwuPmapeEdP?continueMode=true&tk=lEYc4F_FkKlgsmCIs6w0gtGHT2kbgVGbUju3cIRBSjk.DQIAAAAV8NK49xZWdldRM2xNSFNQcTBmcE00UzM3bXh3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA&uuid=WN_GKWqbHkeSyuWetJmLFkj4g&_x_zm_rtaid=kR45-uuqRE-L65AxLjpbQw.1611967079119.2c054e3d3f8d8e63339273d9175939ed&_x_zm_rhtaid=866
NEW INFO 1 Live merger webinar with PLBY and MCAC on Friday January 29, 2021 at 12:00 NOON EST link below
https://mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/press-release-details/2021/Playboy-Enterprises-Inc.-and-Mountain-Crest-Acquisition-Corp-Participate-in-SPACInsider-ICR-Webinar-on-January-29th-at-12pm-ET/default.aspx
Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis
!!!WARNING READING AHEAD!!! TL;DR at the end. It will take some time to sort through all the links and read/watch everything, but you should.
In the next couple weeks, Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp is taking Playboy public. The existing ticker MCAC will become PLBY. Special purpose acquisition companies have taken private companies public in recent months with great success. I believe this will be no exception. Notably, Playboy is profitable and has skyrocketing revenue going into a transformational growth phase.
Porn - First and foremost, let's talk about porn. I know what you guys are thinking. “Porno mags are dead. Why would I want to invest in something like that? I can get porn for free online.” Guess what? You are absolutely right. And that’s exactly why Playboy doesn’t do that anymore. That’s right, they eliminated their print division. And yet they somehow STILL make money from porn that people (see: boomers) pay for on their website through PlayboyTV, Playboy Plus, and iPlayboy. Here’s the thing: Playboy has international, multi-generational name recognition from porn. They have content available in 180 countries. It will be the only publicly traded adult entertainment (porn) company. But that is not where this company is going. It will help support them along the way. You can see every Playboy magazine through iPlayboy if you’re interested. NSFW links below:
https://www.playboy.com/
https://www.playboytv.com/
https://www.playboyplus.com/
https://www.iplayboy.com/
Gambling - Some of you might recognize the Playboy brand from gambling trips to places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Cancun, London or Macau. They’ve been in the gambling biz for decades through their casinos, clubs, and licensed gaming products. They see the writing on the wall. COVID is accelerating the transition to digital, application based GAMBLING. That’s right. What we are doing on Robinhood with risky options is gambling, and the only reason regulators might give a shit anymore is because we are making too much money. There may be some restrictions put in place, but gambling from your phone on your couch is not going anywhere. More and more states are allowing things like Draftkings, poker, state ‘lottery” apps, hell - even political betting. Michigan and Virginia just ok’d gambling apps. They won’t be the last. This is all from your couch and any 18 year old with a cracked iphone can access it. Wouldn’t it be cool if Playboy was going to do something like that? They’re already working on it. As per CEO Ben Kohn who we will get to later, “...the company’s casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth.” Honestly, I stopped researching Scientific Games' sports betting segment when I saw the word ‘omni-channel’. That told me all I needed to know about it’s success.
“Our SG Sports™ platform is an enhanced, omni-channel solution for online, self-service and retail fixed odds sports betting – from soccer to tennis, basketball, football, baseball, hockey, motor sports, racing and more.”
https://www.scientificgames.com/
https://www.microgaming.co.uk/
“This latter segment has become increasingly enticing for Playboy, and it said last week that it is considering new tie-ups that could include gaming operators like PointsBet and 888Holdings.”
https://calvinayre.com/2020/10/05/business/playboys-gaming-ops-could-get-a-boost-from-spac-purchase/
As per their SEC filing:
“Significant consumer engagement and spend with Playboy-branded gaming properties around the world, including with leading partners such as Microgaming, Scientific Games, and Caesar’s Entertainment, steers our investment in digital gaming, sports betting and other digital offerings to further support our commercial strategy to expand consumer spend with minimal marginal cost, and gain consumer data to inform go-to-market plans across categories.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tMDAA1
They are expanding into more areas of gaming/gambling, working with international players in the digital gaming/gambling arena, and a Playboy sportsbook is on the horizon.
https://www.playboy.com/read/the-pleasure-of-playing-with-yourself-mobile-gaming-in-the-covid-era
Cannabis - If you’ve ever read through a Playboy magazine, you know they’ve had a positive relationship with cannabis for many years. As of September 2020, Playboy has made a major shift into the cannabis space. Too good to be true you say? Check their website. Playboy currently sells a range of CBD products. This is a good sign. Federal hemp products, which these most likely are, can be mailed across state lines and most importantly for a company like Playboy, can operate through a traditional banking institution. CBD products are usually the first step towards the cannabis space for large companies. Playboy didn’t make these products themselves meaning they are working with a processor in the cannabis industry. Another good sign for future expansion. What else do they have for sale? Pipes, grinders, ashtrays, rolling trays, joint holders. Hmm. Ok. So it looks like they want to sell some shit. They probably don’t have an active interest in cannabis right? Think again:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/09/24/playboy-gets-serious-about-cannabis-law-reform-advocacy-with-new-partnership-grants/?sh=62f044a65cea
“Taking yet another step into the cannabis space, Playboy will be announcing later on Thursday (September, 2020) that it is launching a cannabis law reform and advocacy campaign in partnership with National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Last Prisoner Project, Marijuana Policy Project, the Veterans Cannabis Project, and the Eaze Momentum Program.”
“According to information procured exclusively, the three-pronged campaign will focus on calling for federal legalization. The program also includes the creation of a mentorship plan, through which the Playboy Foundation will support entrepreneurs from groups that are underrepresented in the industry.” Remember that CEO Kohn from earlier? He wrote this recently:
https://medium.com/naked-open-letters-from-playboy/congress-must-pass-the-more-act-c867c35239ae
Seems like he really wants weed to be legal? Hmm wonder why? The writing's on the wall my friends. Playboy wants into the cannabis industry, they are making steps towards this end, and we have favorable conditions for legislative progress.
Don’t think branding your own cannabis line is profitable or worthwhile? Tell me why these 41 celebrity millionaires and billionaires are dummies. I’ll wait.
https://www.celebstoner.com/news/celebstoner-news/2019/07/12/top-celebrity-cannabis-brands/
Confirmation: I hear you. “This all seems pretty speculative. It would be wildly profitable if they pull this shift off. But how do we really know?” Watch this whole video:
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/playboy-ceo-telling-story-female-154907068.html
Man - this interview just gets my juices flowing. And highlights one of my favorite reasons for this play. They have so many different business avenues from which a catalyst could appear. I think paying attention, holding shares, and options on these staggered announcements over the next year is the way I am going to go about it. "There's definitely been a shift to direct-to-consumer," he (Kohn) said. "About 50 percent of our revenue today is direct-to-consumer, and that will continue to grow going forward.” “Kohn touted Playboy's portfolio of both digital and consumer products, with casino-style gaming, in particular, serving a crucial role under the company's new business model. Playboy also has its sights on the emerging cannabis market, from CBD products to marijuana products geared toward sexual health and pleasure.” "If THC does become legal in the United States, we have developed certain strains to enhance your sex life that we will launch," Kohn said. https://cheddar.com/media/playboy-goes-public-health-gaming-lifestyle-focus Oh? The CEO actually said it? Ok then. “We have developed certain strains…” They’re already working with growers on strains and genetics? Ok. There are several legal cannabis markets for those products right now, international and stateside. I expect Playboy licensed hemp and THC pre-rolls by EOY. Something like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/842996758/10-playboy-pre-roll-tubes-limited?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=pre+roll+playboy&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1 Maintaining cannabis operations can be costly and a regulatory headache. Playboy’s licensing strategy allows them to pick successful, established partners and sidestep traditional barriers to entry. You know what I like about these new markets? They’re expanding. Worldwide. And they are going to be a bigger deal than they already are with or without Playboy. Who thinks weed and gambling are going away? Too many people like that stuff. These are easy markets. And Playboy is early enough to carve out their spot in each. Fuck it, read this too: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimosman/2020/10/20/playboy-could-be-the-king-of-spacs-here-are-three-picks/?sh=2e13dcaa3e05
Numbers: You want numbers? I got numbers. As per the company’s most recent SEC filing:
“For the year ended December 31, 2019, and the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s historical consolidated revenue was $78.1 million and $101.3 million, respectively, historical consolidated net income (loss) was $(23.6) million and $(4.8) million, respectively, and Adjusted EBITDA was $13.1 million and $21.8 million, respectively.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Licensing segment contributed $44.2 million in revenue and $31.1 million in net income.”
“In the ninth months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Direct-to-Consumer segment contributed $40.2 million in revenue and net income of $0.1 million.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Digital Subscriptions and Content segment contributed $15.4 million in revenue and net income of $7.4 million.”
They are profitable across all three of their current business segments.
“Playboy’s return to the public markets presents a transformed, streamlined and high-growth business. The Company has over $400 million in cash flows contracted through 2029, sexual wellness products available for sale online and in over 10,000 major retail stores in the US, and a growing variety of clothing and branded lifestyle and digital gaming products.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
Growth: Playboy has massive growth in China and massive growth potential in India. “In China, where Playboy has spent more than 25 years building its business, our licensees have an enormous footprint of nearly 2,500 brick and mortar stores and 1,000 ecommerce stores selling high quality, Playboy-branded men’s casual wear, shoes/footwear, sleepwear, swimwear, formal suits, leather & non-leather goods, sweaters, active wear, and accessories. We have achieved significant growth in China licensing revenues over the past several years in partnership with strong licensees and high-quality manufacturers, and we are planning for increased growth through updates to our men’s fashion lines and expansion into adjacent categories in men’s skincare and grooming, sexual wellness, and women’s fashion, a category where recent launches have been well received.” The men’s market in China is about the same size as the entire population of the United States and European Union combined. Playboy is a leading brand in this market. They are expanding into the women’s market too. Did you know CBD toothpaste is huge in China? China loves CBD products and has hemp fields that dwarf those in the US. If Playboy expands their CBD line China it will be huge. Did you know the gambling money in Macau absolutely puts Las Vegas to shame? Technically, it's illegal on the mainland, but in reality, there is a lot of gambling going on in China. https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/10/19/magic-johnson-and-uncle-buds-cbd-brand-enter-china-via-tmall-partnership/?sh=271776ca411e “In India, Playboy today has a presence through select apparel licensees and hospitality establishments. Consumer research suggests significant growth opportunities in the territory with Playboy’s brand and categories of focus.” “Playboy Enterprises has announced the expansion of its global consumer products business into India as part of a partnership with Jay Jay Iconic Brands, a leading fashion and lifestyle Company in India.” “The Indian market today is dominated by consumers under the age of 35, who represent more than 65 percent of the country’s total population and are driving India’s significant online shopping growth. The Playboy brand’s core values of playfulness and exploration resonate strongly with the expressed desires of today’s younger millennial consumers. For us, Playboy was the perfect fit.” “The Playboy international portfolio has been flourishing for more than 25 years in several South Asian markets such as China and Japan. In particular, it has strategically targeted the millennial and gen-Z audiences across categories such as apparel, footwear, home textiles, eyewear and watches.” https://www.licenseglobal.com/industry-news/playboy-expands-global-footprint-india It looks like they gave COVID the heisman in terms of net damage sustained: “Although Playboy has not suffered any material adverse consequences to date from the COVID-19 pandemic, the business has been impacted both negatively and positively. The remote working and stay-at-home orders resulted in the closure of the London Playboy Club and retail stores of Playboy’s licensees, decreasing licensing revenues in the second quarter, as well as causing supply chain disruption and less efficient product development thereby slowing the launch of new products. However, these negative impacts were offset by an increase in Yandy’s direct-to-consumer sales, which have benefited in part from overall increases in online retail sales so far during the pandemic.” Looks like the positives are long term (Yandy acquisition) and the negatives are temporary (stay-at-home orders).
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921006093/tm213766-1_defa14a.htm
This speaks to their ability to maintain a financially solvent company throughout the transition phase to the aforementioned areas. They’d say some fancy shit like “expanded business model to encompass four key revenue streams: Sexual Wellness, Style & Apparel, Gaming & Lifestyle, and Beauty & Grooming.” I hear “we’re just biding our time with these trinkets until those dollar dollar bill y’all markets are fully up and running.” But the truth is these existing revenue streams are profitable, scalable, and rapidly expanding Playboy’s e-commerce segment around the world.
"Even in the face of COVID this year, we've been able to grow EBITDA over 100 percent and revenue over 68 percent, and I expect that to accelerate going into 2021," he said. “Playboy is accelerating its growth in company-owned and branded consumer products in attractive and expanding markets in which it has a proven history of brand affinity and consumer spend.”
Also in the SEC filing, the Time Frame:
“As we detailed in the definitive proxy statement, the SPAC stockholder meeting to vote on the transaction has been set for February 9th, and, subject to stockholder approval and satisfaction of the other closing conditions, we expect to complete the merger and begin trading on NASDAQ under ticker PLBY shortly thereafter,” concluded Kohn.
The Players: Suhail “The Whale” Rizvi (HMFIC), Ben “The Bridge” Kohn (CEO), “lil” Suying Liu & “Big” Dong Liu (Young-gun China gang). I encourage you to look these folks up. The real OG here is Suhail Rizvi. He’s from India originally and Chairman of the Board for the new PLBY company. He was an early investor in Twitter, Square, Facebook and others. His firm, Rizvi Traverse, currently invests in Instacart, Pinterest, Snapchat, Playboy, and SpaceX. Maybe you’ve heard of them. “Rizvi, who owns a sprawling three-home compound in Greenwich, Connecticut, and a 1.65-acre estate in Palm Beach, Florida, near Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, moved to Iowa Falls when he was five. His father was a professor of psychology at Iowa. Along with his older brother Ashraf, a hedge fund manager, Rizvi graduated from Wharton business school.” “Suhail Rizvi: the 47-year-old 'unsocial' social media baron: When Twitter goes public in the coming weeks (2013), one of the biggest winners will be a 47-year-old financier who guards his secrecy so zealously that he employs a person to take down his Wikipedia entry and scrub his photos from the internet. In IPO, Twitter seeks to be 'anti-FB'” “Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia looks like a big Twitter winner. So do the moneyed clients of Jamie Dimon. But as you’ve-got-to-be-joking wealth washed over Twitter on Thursday — a company that didn’t exist eight years ago was worth $31.7 billion after its first day on the stock market — the non-boldface name of the moment is Suhail R. Rizvi. Mr. Rizvi, 47, runs a private investment company that is the largest outside investor in Twitter with a 15.6 percent stake worth $3.8 billion at the end of trading on Thursday (November, 2013). Using a web of connections in the tech industry and in finance, as well as a hearty dose of good timing, he brought many prominent names in at the ground floor, including the Saudi prince and some of JPMorgan’s wealthiest clients.” https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/technology/at-twitter-working-behind-the-scenes-toward-a-billion-dollar-payday.html Y’all like that Arab money? How about a dude that can call up Saudi Princes and convince them to spend? Funniest shit about I read about him: “Rizvi was able to buy only $100 million in Facebook shortly before its IPO, thus limiting his returns, according to people with knowledge of the matter.” Poor guy :(
He should be fine with the 16 million PLBY shares he's going to have though :)
Shuhail also has experience in the entertainment industry. He’s invested in companies like SESAC, ICM, and Summit Entertainment. He’s got Hollywood connections to blast this stuff post-merger. And he’s at least partially responsible for that whole Twilight thing. I’m team Edward btw.
I really like what Suhail has done so far. He’s lurked in the shadows while Kohn is consolidating the company, trimming the fat, making Playboy profitable, and aiming the ship at modern growing markets.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-ipo-rizvi-insight/insight-little-known-hollywood-investor-poised-to-score-with-twitter-ipo-idUSBRE9920VW20131003
Ben “The Bridge” Kohn is an interesting guy. He’s the connection between Rizvi Traverse and Playboy. He’s both CEO of Playboy and was previously Managing Partner at Rizvi Traverse. Ben seems to be the voice of the Playboy-Rizvi partnership, which makes sense with Suhail’s privacy concerns. Kohn said this:
“Today is a very big day for all of us at Playboy and for all our partners globally. I stepped into the CEO role at Playboy in 2017 because I saw the biggest opportunity of my career. Playboy is a brand and platform that could not be replicated today. It has massive global reach, with more than $3B of global consumer spend and products sold in over 180 countries. Our mission – to create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure – is rooted in our 67-year history and creates a clear focus for our business and role we play in people’s lives, providing them with the products, services and experiences that create a lifestyle of pleasure. We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct to consumer capabilities,” said Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy.
“Playboy today is a highly profitable commerce business with a total addressable market projected in the trillions of dollars,” Mr. Kohn continued, “We are actively selling into the Sexual Wellness consumer category, projected to be approximately $400 billion in size by 2024, where our recently launched intimacy products have rolled out to more than 10,000 stores at major US retailers in the United States. Combined with our owned & operated ecommerce Sexual Wellness initiatives, the category will contribute more than 40% of our revenue this year. In our Apparel and Beauty categories, our collaborations with high-end fashion brands including Missguided and PacSun are projected to achieve over $50M in retail sales across the US and UK this year, our leading men’s apparel lines in China expanded to nearly 2500 brick and mortar stores and almost 1000 digital stores, and our new men’s and women’s fragrance line recently launched in Europe. In Gaming, our casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth. Our product strategy is informed by years of consumer data as we actively expand from a purely licensing model into owning and operating key high-growth product lines focused on driving profitability and consumer lifetime value. We are thrilled about the future of Playboy. Our foundation has been set to drive further growth and margin, and with the committed capital from this transaction and our more than $180M in NOLs, we will take advantage of the opportunity in front of us, building to our goal of $100M of adjusted EBITDA in 2025.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
Also, according to their Form 4s, “Big” Dong Liu and “lil” Suying Liu just loaded up with shares last week. These guys are brothers and seem like the Chinese market connection. They are only 32 & 35 years old. I don’t even know what that means, but it's provocative.
https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1832415.htm
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-ii-002600994.html
Y’all like that China money?
“Mr. Liu has been the Chief Financial Officer of Dongguan Zhishang Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd., a regional designer, manufacturer and distributor of LED lights serving commercial customers throughout Southern China since November 2016, at which time he led a syndicate of investments into the firm. Mr. Liu has since overseen the financials of Dongguan Zhishang as well as provided strategic guidance to its board of directors, advising on operational efficiency and cash flow performance. From March 2010 to October 2016, Mr. Liu was the Head of Finance at Feidiao Electrical Group Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese manufacturer of electrical outlets headquartered in Shanghai and with businesses in the greater China region as well as Europe.”
Dr. Suying Liu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp., commented, “Playboy is a unique and compelling investment opportunity, with one of the world’s largest and most recognized brands, its proven consumer affinity and spend, and its enormous future growth potential in its four product segments and new and existing geographic regions. I am thrilled to be partnering with Ben and his exceptional team to bring his vision to fruition.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
These guys are good. They have a proven track record of success across multiple industries. Connections and money run deep with all of these guys. I don’t think they’re in the game to lose.
I was going to write a couple more paragraphs about why you should have a look at this but really the best thing you can do is read this SEC filing from a couple days ago. It explains the situation in far better detail. Specifically, look to page 137 and read through their strategy. Also, look at their ownership percentages and compensation plans including the stock options and their prices. The financials look great, revenue is up 90% Q3, and it looks like a bright future.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
I’m hesitant to attach this because his position seems short term, but I’m going to with a warning because he does hit on some good points (two are below his link) and he’s got a sizable position in this thing (500k+ on margin, I think). I don’t know this guy but he did look at the same publicly available info and make roughly the same prediction, albeit without the in depth gambling or cannabis mention. You can also search reddit for ‘MCAC’ and very few relevant results come up and none of them even come close to really looking at this thing.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gOvAd6lebs452hFlWWbxVjQ3VMsjGBkbJeXRwDwIJfM/edit?usp=sharing
“Also, before you people start making claims that Playboy is a “boomer” company, STOP RIGHT THERE. This is not a good argument. Simply put. The only thing that matters is Playboy’s name recognition, not their archaic business model which doesn’t even exist anymore as they have completely repurposed their business.”
“Imagine not buying $MCAC at a 400M valuation lol. Streetwear department is worth 1B alone imo.”
Considering the ridiculous Chinese growth as a lifestyle brand, he’s not wrong.
Current Cultural Significance and Meme Value: A year ago I wouldn’t have included this section but the events from the last several weeks (even going back to tsla) have proven that a company’s ability to meme and/or gain social network popularity can have an effect. Tik-tok, Snapchat, Twitch, Reddit, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter. They all have Playboy stuff on them. Kids in middle and highschool know what Playboy is but will likely never see or touch one of the magazines in person. They’ll have a Playboy hoodie though. Crazy huh? A lot like GME, PLBY would hugely benefit from meme-value stock interest to drive engagement towards their new business model while also building strategic coffers. This interest may not directly and/or significantly move the stock price but can generate significant interest from larger players who will.
Bull Case: The year is 2025. Playboy is now the world leader pleasure brand. They began by offering Playboy licensed gaming products, including gambling products, direct to consumers through existing names. By 2022, demand has skyrocketed and Playboy has designed and released their own gambling platforms. In 2025, they are also a leading cannabis brand in the United States and Canada with proprietary strains and products geared towards sexual wellness. Cannabis was legalized in the US in 2023 when President Biden got glaucoma but had success with cannabis treatment. He personally pushes for cannabis legalization as he steps out of office after his first term. Playboy has also grown their brand in China and India to multi-billion per year markets. The stock goes up from 11ish to 100ish and everyone makes big gains buying somewhere along the way.
Bear Case: The United States does a complete 180 on marijuana and gambling. President Biden overdoses on marijuana in the Lincoln bedroom when his FDs go tits up and he loses a ton of money in his sports book app after the Fighting Blue Hens narrowly lose the National Championship to Bama. Playboy is unable to expand their cannabis and gambling brands but still does well with their worldwide lifestyle brand. They gain and lose some interest in China and India but the markets are too large to ignore them completely. The stock goes up from 11ish to 13ish and everyone makes 15-20% gains.
TL;DR: Successful technology/e-commerce investment firm took over Playboy to turn it into a porn, online gambling/gaming, sports book, cannabis company, worldwide lifestyle brand that promotes sexual wellness, vetern access, women-ownership, minority-ownership, and “pleasure for all”. Does a successful online team reinventing an antiquated physical copy giant sound familiar? No options yet, shares only for now. $11.38 per share at time of writing. My guess? $20 by the end of February. $50 by EOY. This is not financial advice. I am not qualified to give financial advice. I’m just sayin’ I would personally use a Playboy sports book app while smoking a Playboy strain specific joint and it would be cool if they did that. Do your own research. You’d probably want to start here:
WARNING - POTENTIALLY NSFW - SEXY MODELS AHEAD - no actual nudity though
https://s26.q4cdn.com/895475556/files/doc_presentations/Playboy-Craig-Hallum-Conference-Investor-Presentation-11_17_20-compressed.pdf
Or here:
https://www.mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/default.aspx
Jimmy Chill: “Get into any SPAC at $10 or $11 and you are going to make money.”
STL;DR: Buy MCAC. MCAC > PLBY couple weeks. Rocketship. Moon.
Position: 5000 shares. I will buy short, medium, and long-dated calls once available.

Heyooo everyonee! It’s Coooolin! Monday, Monday, Moooondaayy! I feel so alive, and I really don’t know why, hahaha. How was everyone’s day back to work / school , and the braand new weeekk? Let me knooww, doownn beloooww!
Here’s the new Daily Content for today! Thanks as always, EA!

Fantasy Hockey

Alex Pietrangelo - 84 OVR - LVK / RD - (1) BAR , SH
Justin Schultz - 83 OVR - WAS / RD - (1) H and S , SPE
Ryan Pulock - 83 OVR - NYI / RD - (1) BAR , LTL
Vince Dunn - 83 OVR - STL / LD - (1) SWA , PP
Joe Pavelski - 82 OVR - DAL / C - (1) DIS , T
Jake Virtanen - 81 OVR - VAN / RW - (1) SPA , WH
Dylan Strome - 81 OVR - CHI / C - (1) BAL , WM
James Neal - 80 OVR - EDM / RW - (1) DIS , GLA
Connor Brown - 80 OVR - OTT / RW - (1) BAL , MAG ... I want
Juuse Saros - 80 OVR - NAS / G - 5’11” / 180 lbs - (1) BAR , SPA
Evgeni Malkin - 74 OVR - PIT / C - (1) SWA , WM
Filip Chytil - 74 OVR - NYR / C - (1) H and S , HOW
——— ———- ——- ——- ——- ———

EUROPEAN HC

Event
Austin Matthews - 91 OVR - ZSC / C - (1) MAG , WH
Kevin Fiala - 89 OVR - HV7 / LW - (1) LTL , GLA
Juuso Valimaki - 88 OVR - ILV / LD - (1) WM , SH
Eemeu Suomi - 87 OVR - ILV / C - (1) T , WM
Ryan Lasch - 87 OVR - PEL / RW - (1) SPE , MAG
Daniel Viksten - 87 OVR - FAR / RW - (1) HOW , PP
Joel Persson - 87 OVR - LAK / RD - (1) GLA , WH
Dominik Kahun - 86 OVR - WÛN / C - (1) MAG , WM
Gauthier Descloux - 86 OVR - GEN / G - (1) BAL , SPA
Milan Gulas - 86 OVR - PLZ / LW - (1) HOW , PP
Maury Edwards - 85 OVR - WAI / RD - (1) SPE , MAG
Rafael Rotter - 85 OVR - VIE / RW - (1) T , WM

Primetimes

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Brett Rittchie - 80 OVR - CGY / RW - (1) SPA , GLA ... *

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Daniel Winnik - 79 OVR - GEN / RW - (1) HOW , SWA ... *
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Ludovic Waeber - 77 OVR - ZSC / G - 6’1” / 176 lbs (1) SPA , SWA ... *
Daniel Zaar - 77 OVR - FAR / RW - (1) H and S , MAG ... *
Carson Lambos - 77 OVR - ICE / LD - (1) BAL , WM ... *
Yannick Zehnder - 77 OVR - EVZ / C - (1) BAR , PP ... *
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David Bernhardt - 77 OVR - SAI / LD - (1) DIS , LTL
Chase Stillman - 76 OVR - WOL / RW - (1) BAR , SH
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• • • • • • • • • • - - - - - - - - - • • • • • • • • • • • •

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1 EUROPEAN HC COLLECTABLE
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Recieve - 1 EUROPEAN COLLECTABLE
This is important if you want to do the GC set, and an MSP item!
——-

What’s to Come?

• Rivals Resets - Tomorrow at 5pm EST
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• SB Rewards !! - Thursday at 5pm EST
—————

Summary of the day

Quick Read
Best Forward of the Day - HC - is AUUSTINN MAATTHEWSS OVR 91 with the syn MAAAGICIAANN and WOORKHORSEE
Best Defence of the Day - HC - is JUUUSSOO VAAALLIIMAAKIII OVR 88 with the syn WIIINGG MAAAN and SHUUUTTT DOOWNN
////
Best Forward of the Day - PT - is BRREETTT RITTCHIIEEE OVR *80 with the syn SPAARRRKK and GLAADIAATORR
Best Defence of the Day - PT - is CAAARSSSOON LAAMBOSS OVR 77 with the syn BAALANCEDD AND WINGMAAN
———— —— ———

Important Notice

Save money, and money will save you.
If you can’t buy the item you want twice, you can’t afford it.
They say money isn’t everything, but everything needs money.
So before you buy that new game, buy points, or what not - think twice.
Is it something you really need, or just want?
——— —— —— Cooolin —— // ——- /// —— ///

Interested in Stocks?

EA’s Stock Price, after hours - Jan. 11
$ 141.22 (usd) —- Currency Converter
we looked at the stock at $137.54 usd
—— That is a difference of ( $ 3.68 / 2.68 % ) —
Disclaimer - I am not a financial advisor. It is your money, please do your own due diligence. I am not responsible for your money. This is *not** advice. I added this section for an added educational purposes only. Thanks*
—— —— —— —-

NEED A SOUNDTRACK TO LISTEN TO?

• I made this for everyone. I’ll update it whenever I feel like it, but its been often!

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Comment songs to add, and please give feedback! It’s much appreciated!!
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Stream Hockey Games

If you click here you will be redirected to bilasport.
Bilasport is a streaming site for all your Sport needs! You can stream; NHL , NFL , NBA , MLB , Boxing / MMA , and NCAAF.
With the NHL season coming up, this is a great resource if you want to watch a game!
Bookmark it today!
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• Coolin Killin It
(Life is like a puzzle, you just have to find the right piece.)

I dont know why the formatting added all the extra spaces after copy/pasting I apologize if it makes reading difficult for anyone
In response to:
"Let’s help the Bellefonte Area School District have a better mascot."
Message:
TaiGuey Natiaos Siyou Yuwi (Good Day Sisters and Brothers)
I do not know if you have reach a decision on your mascot yet or not. The most recent update on the website states “August 19, 2020” and seems to imply there has yet to be a change. I thought your discussion might benefit from some different insights and perspectives regarding the people your mascot “represents” in addition to some basic history that, as an originally public school educated mixed race citizen, I know is not taught on any level. Before continuing further, I feel it would be uncouth not to also acknowledge the sheer absurdity that this conversation must be had at all. All that has to be done, to not offend an entire peoples, is change a logo and a name. Even the most basic moral compass should not need an explanation as to why that should already have been accomplished. But here we are.
First it is important to also note without any misunderstanding, misrepresentation, or bias, that the current state of affairs in which we are faced with the context of this discussion is rooted in a multi-generational history of racism, genocide, and purposeful oppression and brutality. The Indian Policies which this country operated under, and openly funded with both massive manpower and financial resources in addition to the great efforts put forth in anti-indian propaganda production were directly praised by none other than Adolf Hitler himself. They would go on to serve not only as the inspiration for his camps and ghettos, but the Reservation systems *still in place today* would serve as the very model for his attempt at the complete division and eventual destruction of the Jewish people. That is a pretty uncomfortable thing to acknowledge, but it is a vital part of the American story if we are to understand it in its current form at all. It is well understood (or at least hoped) that the average American today probably does not support or even entertain the idea of genocide even in a general sense, but it is also necessary to see and understand that in the past however, that thought was not only commonplace but easily perpetuated.
In 1928, Hitler remarked, approvingly, that white settlers in America had “gunned down the *millions* of redskins to a few hundred thousand.” When he spoke of ‘Lebensraum’, as he often famously did, which was the German drive for “living space” in Eastern Europe, it well understood that he had a very American inspired sort of Manifest Destiny in mind. See also James Q. Whitman’s “Hitler’s American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law” (Princeton) for more insight. Hitler praises America as the one state that has made progress toward a primarily racial conception of citizenship, by “excluding certain races from naturalization” and as such, the discussion of such influences on history and our own country to this day are either taboo or omitted entirely. Please keep in mind, the purpose of this information and this email is not to say “by having a red raider mascot you are perpetuating Nazism” I am simply providing a background for those who may not understand the broader weight such an image carries, and why it is inherently disrespectful and clearly rooted in racism and genocide and thus seen as a symbolic slap in the face to those who not only know their history, but are forced to live out the consequences of it struggling to retain their languages, traditions, and ancient histories already hanging in the balance for survival by a thread. Perspective is important. This leads me to an old dialogue I have heard shared in various forms to those who will listen over the years:
A white man and an elderly native man became good friends, so the white guy decided to ask him, “What do think about Indian mascots?”
The Native elder responded, “Here’s what you’ve got to understand. When you look at black people, you see ghosts of all the slavery and the rapes and the hangings and the chains. When you look at Jews, you see ghosts of all those bodies piled up in death camps. And those ghosts keep you trying to do the right thing. But when you look at us, you don’t see the ghosts of the little babies with their heads smashed in by rifle butts at the Big Hole, or the old folks dying by the side of the trail on the way to Oklahoma while their families cried and tried to make them comfortable, or the dead mothers and their infants displayed on the ends of bayonets for photo ops at Wounded Knee, or the little kids at Sand Creek who were shot for target practice. You don’t see any ghosts at all…
Instead you see casinos and drunks and junk cars and shacks. Well, we see those ghosts. And they make our hearts sad and they hurt our children. And when we try to say something, you tell us, ‘Get over it. This is America. Look at the American dream.’ But as long as you’re calling us Redskins and doing tomahawk chops, we can’t look at the American dream, because those things remind us that we are not real human beings to you. And when people aren’t humans, you can turn them into slaves or kill six million of them or shoot them down with Hotchkiss guns and throw them into mass graves at Wounded Knee. No, we’re not looking at the American dream. And why should we? We still haven’t woken up from the American nightmare. (Nerburn, 2009)
To contrast this, and better understand the kind of sentiment that not only allows for a Bellefonte Red Raider mascot to persist, in addition to the historical poison that is wrapped up in the term redskin we have the words of none other than L. Frank Baum, author of the Wizard of Oz, from a newspaper editorial published for all to read at the time:
“…The Redskin is extinguished, and what few are left are a pack of whining curs who lick the hand that smites them. The Whites, by law of conquest, by justice of civilization, are masters of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians. Why not annihilation? Their glory has fled, their spirit broken, their manhood effaced; better that they die than live the miserable wretches that they are.”
This was L. Frank Baum’s specific response to the tragic Massacre at Wounded Knee of an estimated 300 Lakota people, most of which were unarmed and many women and children. As referenced briefly in the other text above, this event was known for its unrivaled brutality in which US soldiers were issued multiple Medals of Honor (one of the highest military honors that exist) and yet we have these accounts from both sides:
“There was a woman with an infant in her arms who was killed as she almost touched the flag of truce, and the women and children of course were strewn all along the circular village until they were dispatched. Right near the flag of truce a mother was shot down with her infant; the child not knowing that its mother was dead was still nursing, and that especially was a very sad sight. The women as they were fleeing with their babes were killed together, shot right through, and the women who were very heavy with child were also killed. All the Indians fled in these three directions, and after most all of them had been killed a cry was made that all those who were not killed or wounded should come forth and they would be safe. Little boys who were not wounded came out of their places of refuge, and as soon as they came in sight a number of soldiers surrounded them and butchered them there.”
– Chief American Horse
“I know the men did not aim deliberately and they were greatly excited. I don’t believe they saw their sights. They fired rapidly but it seemed to me only a few seconds till there was not a living thing before us; warriors, squaws, children, ponies, and dogs … went down before that unaimed fire.”
– Edward S. Godfrey, Captain, Co. D, 7th Cavalry
“General Nelson A. Miles who visited the scene of carnage, following a three-day blizzard, estimated that around 300 snow shrouded forms were strewn over the countryside. He also discovered to his horror that helpless children and women with babies in their arms had been chased as far as two miles from the original scene of encounter and cut down without mercy by the troopers. Judging by the slaughter on the battlefield it was suggested that the soldiers simply went berserk. For who could explain such a merciless disregard for life?”
– Hugh McGinnis, First Battalion, Co. K, 7th Cavalry
This is just one isolated example of the kind of history a “red” mascot spits in the face of and enables, unknowingly or otherwise. A legacy of a merciless disregard for life. The conquest of this country by settlers consists of thousands of Wounded Knees. You either condone it or you do not. You are either a part of the problem, or a part of the solution. It really is that simple. We can not change history, but we can change how we react to it and how we teach it to our children. Showing respect and having a dialogue, and a willingness to learn about and overcome our uncomfortable yet undeniably shared histories should not be so much to ask for and changing a school mascot while it is a simple gesture, it is also a very big one. As an ancestor of the indigenous Taino peoples myself, the tribe of “first contact” whose numbers dwindled from 23 million to a mere few thousand after the arrival of Columbus- everywhere in America there are still stark reminders of colonialism, slavery, and hundreds of years of oppression and racism by people who once deemed themselves superior. At this point, a little basic respect goes a long way.
Thank you for your time, and hopefully your open hearts and minds.
Sincerely, (omitted from copy for privacy)
Tau Taino-Ti (Good Spirits Be With You)

So i'm going to go on IMDB and look at each MCU movies behind the scenes facts and POST THE MOST INTERESTING ONES here, I will post each movie a day instead of what I did before where I did 10 posts, I will start with the first Iron Man and each day will be the next MCU movie after it, ending with Guardians 3, I will also do the Netflix Shows, Agents of Shield and Agent Carter

THE AVENGERS

1. Robert Downey Jr. kept food hidden all over the lab set, and apparently nobody could find where it was, so they just let him continue doing it. In the movie, that's his actual food he's offering, and when he was eating, it wasn't scripted, he was just hungry.
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2. Reportedly, Iron Man's "Let's just not come in tomorrow" speech was improvised by Robert Downey, Jr., as was "Doth mother know thou weareth her drapes?"
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3. There were very few times that everyone was in town at once, but on one night when they were, Chris Evans sent them all a text message simply saying "Assemble" (the tagline to the movie), prompting a night out on the town. Clark Gregg has stated that this is his favorite text message that he has ever received.
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4. Robert Downey, Jr. asked the Marvel production manager permission to take away the letter "A" that was on the Stark Tower with him, but he declined. However, on his next birthday, the manager gave it to him as a gift.
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5. Reportedly, a scene was filmed where, during the final battle, Captain America saves an old man trying to protect his grandchildren. He tells him to "Get them to cover", but as he walks away, the old man asks him "Cap, is that really you?" He turns and, noting the man's World War II veteran lapel pin, trades salutes with him. As Captain America sprints away, the children ask their grandfather, "Do you know him?", and he replies "We ALL know him."
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6. Gwyneth Paltrow is noticeably barefoot in all of her scenes in Stark Tower, while Robert Downey, Jr. is in three or four-inch platform shoes, so he looks taller than her.
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7. (At around two hours) When the missile is released over Manhattan, the pilot calls detonation in two minutes and thirty seconds. The sequence between then, and the detonation, is two minutes and thirty seconds of film time.
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8. In the final end credit scene, Captain America is the only one not eating. That is because Chris Evans got a buzz cut, and grew out his beard after this movie was done filming. He was called in later to do this extra scene, and refused to shave off his beard, due to filming Snowpiercer (2013) at the time, so they gave him a prosthetic jaw. He holds his hand over his face because the prosthetic made him look like he'd been attacked by a hive of angry bees. He also is unable to eat or talk with the prosthetic on. The wig he wears is also quite clearly visible in certain shots of this scene.
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9. To prepare for the role of Agent Clint Barton (Hawkeye), Jeremy Renner was trained by Olympic archers.
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10. Joss Whedon explained that two of the founding Avengers members, Ant-Man and Wasp, were cut from the script because the film had too many characters. Also, the screenwriters didn't want Ant-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe until his movie was released.
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11. (At around fifty-four minutes) According to writer and director Joss Whedon, the "That man is playing Galaga!" line was ad-libbed by Robert Downey, Jr., and worked so well that Whedon decided to add in an image of Galaga on "that man's" console as the scene's punchline.
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12. (At around forty-six minutes) After Thor takes Loki off the Quinjet down on the mountain side, two large ravens fly by them as they are talking. In Norse mythology, Thor's father Odin had two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, who would bring Odin information from Midgard (Earth). (This film repeats the "family tree" error from the original Marvel comics.)
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13. Chris Hemsworth had to increase and expand his food intake in order to maintain the physique he built up for Thor (2011), consisting of chicken breasts, fish, steak, and eggs every day (Hemsworth said he had to consume "his body weight in grams of protein.").
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14. (At around two hours) The shocked expression of Loki, after being slammed by The Incredible Hulk, was created by animation director Marc Chu, shaking Tom Hiddleston violently and repeatedly.
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15. (At around fifty-five minutes) Chris Evans was unsure about his character's line, "I understood that reference!", because he was worried that it would make audiences think that his character was unintelligent. However, he was quickly comforted after he watched the movie with an audience, and he saw that they found the line humorous, as opposed to stupid.
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16. (at around two hours and five minutes) The Hulk bringing Iron Man back to consciousness by roaring at him was improvised by Mark Ruffalo during his motion-capture performance.
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17. (At around thirty-nine minutes) The German police car skidding on its front end after Loki blasts it was a complete accident, as it failed to flip over initially.
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18. Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury is from the Ultimate Marvel Universe, created in 2000 to re-imagine and update the Marvel heroes for the twenty-first century. Fury's likeness was actually based on Jackson, who gave Marvel permission to do so. Subsequently, based on that likeness and his star power, Jackson was cast as Fury for all Marvel Cinematic Universe films, starting with Iron Man (2008).
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19. Clint Barton (Hawkeye) is an ambidextrous archer (although Jeremy Renner is left-handed). He is seen shooting right-handed in Thor (2011) and both left-handed and right-handed in this film.
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20. The final end credit scene was added after Robert Downey, Jr. encouraged a scene re-write. After Tony Stark falls back to Earth, he originally awakens and asks, "What's next?" Robert Downey, Jr. thought the line could be more interesting, and the idea of going to a local shawarma restaurant was born. The scene was added one day after the global premiere. Since then, shawarma sales in Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Boston have reportedly skyrocketed.
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21. (At around one hour and eleven minutes) The laboratory scene, where Bruce Banner explains how he once attempted to commit suicide by shooting himself in the mouth is a direct reference to a deleted scene from The Incredible Hulk (2008), where Edward Norton's Bruce Banner tried to commit suicide in this manner out in the middle of Alaska's wilderness, only to be stopped by his transformation into the Hulk.
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22. Joss Whedon suggested to Marvel that there should be a bigger villain plotting behind the scenes, which enabled Loki to conquer the Earth, and that someone should be Thanos the Mad Titan. The executives just rolled with it.
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23. According to writer and director Joss Whedon, the original cut of the movie was over three hours long. About thirty minutes of the excised footage are included on the Blu-ray, most of which revolves around Steve Rogers (Captain America) struggling to adjust to the modern world.
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24. There are two spoken references to the early The Incredible Hulk comic books. When Captain America is giving orders, he says "Hulk, smash", a catchphrase uttered by the Hulk in the comics, as well as The Incredible Hulk (2008). After the Hulk thrashes Loki, he says "Puny god", a reference to another oft-repeated Hulk phrase, "Puny humans".
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25. The first Marvel Cinematic Universe film to earn $1 billion.
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26. Samuel L. Jackson's role as Nick Fury in this film makes him the second actor (after Hugh Jackman, who has appeared in all of the X-Men movies) to play the same comic book character in five different movies.
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27. Joss Whedon had earlier been considered to direct X-Men (2000) in the 1990s. A big fan of the X-Men, he even wrote a script, from which only two lines made it into the film. He wrote the story "Gifted" for "Astonishing X-Men", which became the basis for X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).
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28. Sound editor Christopher Boyes has stated that he went through a complicated process to craft the Hulk's voice. The final product "turned out to be (a combination of) Mark Ruffalo, some Lou Ferrigno, and a little bit of me and two people from New Zealand."
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29. There was going to be a brief fight scene between Iron Man and the brainwashed Hawkeye as a nod to Hawkeye starting off as an Iron Man villain in the comics.
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30. (At around fifty-three minutes) According to Joss Whedon's commentary, Bruce Banner's saying of Loki, "You can smell crazy on him" was a set-up for when the Hulk faces off against Loki in Stark Tower. Originally, Loki was going to make multiple versions of himself and the only way the Hulk was going to discern where Loki was, was to smell them. Only the real Loki would have a scent.
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31. Originally, Joss Whedon had not intended the film to include supporting characters from the heroes' individual films, reasoning, "You need to separate the characters from their support systems in order to create the isolation you need for a team." However, he eventually decided to cast Stellan Skarsgård, Paul Bettany, and Gwyneth Paltrow (Paltrow was cast at Robert Downey Jr.'s insistence).
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32. Tony Stark casually refers to three of the other main characters, Loki, Thor, and Hawkeye, as either movie characters, or movie titles. He calls Loki "Reindeer Games", Thor "Point Break", and Hawkeye "Legolas".
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33. Edward Norton was originally set to reprise his role from The Incredible Hulk (2008), but negotiations between him and Marvel Studios broke down. Norton was replaced with Mark Ruffalo, who had also been considered for the role in the prior movie.
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34. The character to whom the Other is talking in the credits is Thanos the Mad Titan, a major supervillain in the Marvel Universe. He is a cosmic mass murderer, who is literally in love with the personification of Death, which is why he is smiling at the phrase, "To court death".
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35. (At around two hours) After Iron Man flies through a Leviathan, he can be seen crashing on the ground in front of a Shawarma Palace, which later appeared in the post-credits scene.
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36. (At around one hour and twenty-nine minutes) One of the cards in Agent Coulson's Captain America card set is a reproduction of Captain America's first comic book appearance, where he punched out Adolf Hitler.
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37. The crew hired twenty-five members of the Ohio-based 391st Military Police Force Battalion for the attack on New York City, to add realism to the battle.
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38. According to writer and director Joss Whedon, the film is strongly influenced by the early 1960s Avengers comics, of which he was a fan while growing up: "In those comics, these people shouldn't be in the same room, let alone on the same team, and that is the definition of family."
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39. Disney had the film's title changed in the United Kingdom to "Marvel Avengers Assemble" to avoid confusion with the iconic British espionage franchise The Avengers (1961) and The Avengers (1998).
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40. Surpassed The Dark Knight (2008)'s record of $1,001,921,825 to become the highest-grossing comic book film of all time.
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41. In the movie, Captain America is a founding member. In the comics, Captain America was unfrozen in Avengers #4, when he was accidentally discovered, when the team was looking for Namor the Sub Mariner.
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42. Writer and director Joss Whedon supposedly had a detailed backstory for Hawkeye written up, but was unable to even reference any of it due to time constraints. During the early planning stages, Hawkeye was envisioned to be depicted as a circus performer, trained by supervillains, who manipulate him into fighting the team, essentially a modernized version of his 616 origin story. At another point, he was planned to debut in Iron Man 2 (2010) as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., who works closely with Natasha Romanov, a.k.a. Black Widow, and Nick Fury.
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43. According to Joss Whedon, the arrangement of the monitors on the Helicarrier bridge were arranged to resemble the wings of the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo. The eagle head can actually be seen at the foot of the conference round table at the end of the film, when repairs are being made.
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44. Lou Ferrigno contributed to the voice of the Hulk in this film. He has played the Hulk in almost every live-action version since 1978: he played the Hulk in the television series The Incredible Hulk (1978), and its subsequent three television specials. He voiced the Hulk in the big-screen The Incredible Hulk (2008), in which he also played a security guard. He also played a security guard in Hulk (2003). He also has voiced the Hulk in various animated productions.
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45. Alyson Hannigan from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1996) (and wife of Alexis Denisof, who plays The Other in the film), recommended her How I Met Your Mother (2005) co-star Cobie Smulders, for the part of Agent Maria Hill.
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46. The cast became good friends while filming, so if all of the cast members happened to be filming scenes together in the same place, they would go out together afterwards.
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47. This was the highest grossing film of all time not directed by James Cameron (it was third under Titanic (1997)'s second place and Avatar (2009)'s first). It has since been replaced by Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015).
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48. (At around two hours) When filming the scene of Loki yelling at the Hulk, Tom Hiddleston had a rope tied to his leg, and since the Hulk is just CGI, when the rope was pulled, it would appear that the Hulk had grabbed him. Tom knew it was going to be pulled during the speech, but he didn't know when, so that he wouldn't be anticipating it.
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49. Mark Ruffalo claims to be the only actor to date (2012) to play both The Hulk and Bruce Banner in the same movie. Technically, Eric Bana and Edward Norton had done motion-capture work for their respective Hulks, but Ruffalo is the first actor to perform the Hulk live on-set via performance capture. What is most certainly a confirmed "first" for Ruffalo's Hulk, however, is clearly defined chest hair (of which Ruffalo has plenty). That has absolutely never been done before in any portrayal of the Hulk, whether it be live, animated, or drawn.
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50. (At around twenty-six minutes) Tony says Coulson's name is Agent. This refers to the fact that originally, his character was only going to be called Agent.
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51. According to Vulture Magazine, this is the amount of screentime each hero has in the film: -Steve Rogers/Captain America: 37:42. -Tony Stark/Iron Man: 37:01. -Natasha Romanov/Black Widow: 33:35. -Bruce BanneThe Hulk: 28:03. -Thor: 25:52. -Clint Barton/Hawkeye: 12:44.
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52. The name "chitauri" originates from Zulu mythology, and is used to describe a "serpent race from the sky". Mark Millar, the creator of "The Ultimates", took the name from the writings of David Icke, who argues that these "chitauri", are in fact aliens, bent on dominating humanity.
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53. Tom Hiddleston describes Loki in this film as having evolved since Thor (2011): "How pleasant an experience is it to disappear into a wormhole that was created by some super-nuclear explosion of his own making? I think by the time Loki shows up, he's seen a few things, and has bigger things in mind than just his brother and Asgard."
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54. Thor is knocked off screen four times: twice by Iron Man, and twice by The Incredible Hulk.
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55. (At around one hour and forty minutes) Tony Stark describes his group as "Earth's mightiest heroes, that kind of thing." This refers to the famous tagline that has been featured on the cover of "The Avengers" comic books since its 1963 debut. The phrase was also used as the subtitle for the animated series, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2010).
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56. The female superhero The Wasp was included in an early draft of the script. She was, however, replaced with the already-existing Natasha Romanov, a.k.a. Black Widow.
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57. Thor spends most of this movie in his Asgardian armor, but with bare arms, a nod to his early appearances in the comics. During his time on the Helicarrier, he is also seen without his cape, an allusion to his Ultimate Comics appearance.
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58. Loki brings the Chitauri alien race to Earth to help him invade it. The Avengers are formed to prevent this from occurring. This is in keeping with the first issue of their self-titled comic book series, in which Loki is responsible for manipulating a chain of disasters that bring The Avengers together in the first place.
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59. Dr. Bruce Banner doesn't turn into The Incredible Hulk until one hour and fourteen minutes in.
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60. (At around twenty-seven minutes) When Agent Coulson visits Stark Tower, Pepper asks him about the cellist in Portland. Tony is also heard telling Coulson he could fly him to Portland (at around fifty-three minutes). This woman ends up being a plot point for an episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013).
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61. Natalie Portman was going to cameo as Jane Foster, but had to drop out when she became pregnant.
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62. An alternate opening and ending frame the movie as a flashbacks from Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), allowing them to simultaneously flesh out her dislike towards Fury's methods and her undying loyalty to S.H.I.E.L.D.
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63. Scarlett Johansson turned down a role in Total Recall (2012) due to her commitment to this movie.
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64. Mark Ruffalo's performance of the Hulk is the first created by motion-capture. Previous live-action versions have either had Bruce Banner and the Hulk be played by separate people (Bill Bixby and bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno), or were key-frame animated.
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65. Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey described the film's look as visceral and naturalistic: "We wanted this to feel immersive, and did not want a comic book look that might distance an audience. We moved the camera a lot on Steadicam, cranes, and on dollies, to create kinetic images, and we chose angles that were dramatic, like low angles, for heroic imagery."
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66. The Chitauri appeared in the first story arc of "The Ultimates", an alternate universe retelling of the origins of the Marvel superheroes. In the comics, their leader claims that they go by many names, including Skrulls. It was originally assumed that the reason for using "The Chitauri", instead of "The Skrulls", was because Twentieth Century Fox owns the rights to the Fantastic Four and their supporting characters. However, Marvel Studios' President of Production Kevin Feige stated in an interview that the film rights to the Skrulls are not owned by either Marvel Studios or Twentieth Century Fox. They were not being used as Joss Whedon did not want to use shape-shifters in the first film.
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67. Jon Favreau was at one point attached to direct, and stayed on as executive producer.
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68. Thor doesn't appear until almost forty-five minutes in.
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69. Mark Ruffalo describes Bruce Banner as "a guy struggling with two sides of himself, the dark and the light; everything he does in his life is filtered through issues of control." He furthermore describes Banner's alter-ego the Hulk as "a loose cannon. He's the teammate none of them are sure they want, it's like throwing a grenade into the middle of the group and hoping it turns out well!"
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70. (At around fifty-six minutes) In the film, Bruce Banner references the fact that the last time he was in New York City, he "broke Harlem". This is a reference to The Incredible Hulk (2008), when The Hulk fought The Abomination in Harlem, New York.
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71. This film holds an unusually high number of Academy Award nominees in the cast and crew for a comic book movie: Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Joss Whedon, and Seamus McGarvey, possibly many others. This tops Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010) which each had four acting nominees a piece.
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72. (At around one hour and thirty minutes) Harry Dean Stanton, who appears as the janitor who discovers Banner after he fell from the Helicarrier, asks "are you an alien?" Stanton was known for his role as Brett in Alien (1979).
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73. The title screen doesn't appear until twelve minutes into the film.
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74. Only the paint on Captain America's shield is scratched in the film. In the comics, his shield is made of an adamantium and vibranium alloy, with a third mystery catalyst, and can only be damaged by beings who possess nearly ultimate power, such as Molecule Man, Rune King, Thor, or Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet. The shield is otherwise impervious.
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75. (At around one hour and eleven minutes) When Banner talks about having tried to kill himself, by putting a bullet in his mouth, but the Hulk spit it out. In the deleted scene of The Incredible Hulk (2008), where Banner goes to kill himself, he clearly never got the chance to shoot himself, since the Hulk starts to appear to stop him.
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76. (At around thirty minutes) In order to create a total extra-terrestrial look for the Chitauri, they have four thumbs, two on each hand. This can be seen, when Loki is talking with The Other.
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77. Several members of the cast participated in adaptations of comic book and/or graphic novel adaptations outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Scarlett Johansson appeared in Ghost World (2001), The Spirit (2008), and Ghost in the Shell (2017). Chris Evans appeared in Fantastic Four (2005), Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), TMNT (2007), The Losers (2010), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), and Snowpiercer (2013). Powers Boothe (who provides a cameo in the film) appeared in Sin City (2005). Alexis Denisof appeared in several DC productions beforehand. Samuel L. Jackson appeared in The Spirit (2008).
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78. (At around two hours and ten minutes) At the end of the film, when the news clip of Beth the waitress appears on Nick Fury's computer screen, it is listed as S.H.I.E.L.D. File A113. "A113 is the room number of the animation classroom at CalArts. The A113 reference is a running gag in films made by Pixar and Disney, starting with Toy Story (1995), a film partially written by Joss Whedon, who wrote and directed this movie.
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79. The outdoor scenes, which were supposed to take place in Germany, but were filmed in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, contained numerous Cleveland Historical landmarks including; Tower City, Higbee Building and Casino, the Renaissance Building, and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument.
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80. The film's shooting schedule was ninety-three days, but filming was completed one day early.
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81. The first film to gross $200 million in its first three days in the U.S.
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82. The weapons powered by the Tesseract are all engraved with H.Y.D.R.A.'s emblem.
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83. Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans appeared in The Perfect Score (2004) and The Nanny Diaries (2007). Robert Downey, Jr. and Mark Ruffalo appeared in Zodiac (2007).
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84. The twelfth film to surpass the $1 billion mark worldwide, and the tenth to surpass the $400 million mark in the U.S. It tied with Avatar (2009) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) for surpassing the $1 billion mark worldwide in the fastest time (nineteen days), and set the record of surpassing the $400 million mark in the U.S. (fourteen days).
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85. This is the first Marvel film to be distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.
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86. Two founding members of The Avengers from the comics were left out of this movie: Ant-Man and The Wasp. They were replaced by Hawkeye and Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow, in an attempt to better integrate S.H.I.E.L.D. into the story.
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87. Due to UK copyright issues over the name, Marvel had to release the film in the UK under the name "Avengers Assemble", as there had already been an unrelated film with Sir Sean Connery and Ralph Fiennes released by Warner Brothers, The Avengers (1998). That movie was based on The Avengers (1961), which starred Patrick Macnee. As Warner Brothers UK owned the copyrighted name, and objected to Marvel using it, Marvel were forced to change the name to "Avengers Assemble" for its UK theatrical and home video release. As film prints and marketing for the Republic of Ireland were handled by Disney UK. They decided to stick with the name change for that territory too, for cost effectiveness reasons.
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88. Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes was considered to have a cameo in the post-credits scene, where he is wearing his War Machine armor, only to find out he came too late for the battle, and sits down with The Avengers, but the scene was thrown away to where they just show The Avengers eating.
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89. This is only the second time that Bruce Banner, a.k.a. Hulk, and Thor have appeared together in a movie. They previously appeared together in NBC's television film The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988), which starred Bill Bixby as Dr. David Bruce Banner.
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90. Before Mark Ruffalo was cast as The Hulk, Joaquin Phoenix was rumored for the part. Joaquin Phoenix was also rumored for the part of Dr. Stephen Strange in Doctor Strange (2016).
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91. Due to this movie's record-breaking success at the box office, it made Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey, Jr., and Scarlett Johansson three of the top ten highest grossing actors and actress of all time at second, fifth, and tenth respectively.
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92. Morena Baccarin, Jessica Lucas, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Cobie Smulders screentested for the role of Agent Maria Hill.
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93. Powers Boothe, who played a World Security Council member, was also featured in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013) playing the same character, whose name was revealed to be Gideon Malick.
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94. (At around seventeen minutes) Mark Ruffalo also ad-libbed touching a baby's cradle in the abandoned house, in which he meets Natasha Romanov, a.k.a. Black Widow.
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95. One draft of the movie had it taking place from Tony's point of view.
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96. The Science and Entertainment Exchange provided science consultation for the film.
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97. The sixth and final chapter of Phase One in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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98. (At around one hour and forty-five minutes) Enver Gjokaj played the young police officer to whom Captain America gives orders at the beginning of the battle of New York City. He also played Agent Sousa on Agent Carter (2015).
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99. The highest grossing film of 2012.
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100. When Loki is held prisoner on the helicarrier, the computer screen monitoring him shows an infrared image of the cell. Loki's temperature is shown as blue (cold) due to the fact that he is a frost giant by nature.
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101. (At around thirty-two minutes) When Agent Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) is on the Helicarrier showing Captain Rogers (Chris Evans) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) around, she's wearing a black jacket and pants with a red shirt underneath, signifying the iconic colors of her code name: Black Widow.
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102. As of October 2014, this is the highest grossing Marvel movie of all time.
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103. The film was originally rated R. It took Marvel three tries with the MPAA to grant the film a PG-13, instead of an R rating, because of Agent Coulson's death scene. Originally, Loki's staff was seen bursting through his chest. Instead, a gruesome sound effect was added after Loki appears behind him, and then a quick-cut to Thor's reaction.
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104. This was the highest-grossing film in Malaysia, grossing about $10.96 million.
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105. This movie is the second highest-grossing film of all time in the Philippines, with over 601 million PHP (over $13.3 million U.S.) in box office revenue, behind Iron Man 3 (2013).
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106. The film was released in theaters on May 2012, one year and four months before the 50th Anniversary of the original "Avengers" comic.
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107. Lindsay Lohan reportedly auditioned for a role.
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108. Joe Carnahan was considered to direct the film before Joss Whedon was finally chosen.
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109. Amanda Peet was considered for the role of Agent Maria Hill.
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110. This movie, as well as Avengers: Infinity War (2018) are the only times where two Infinity Stones are in the same movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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111. Loki's name is mentioned or used by other characters thirty-three times.
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112. The only film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in which Thanos is not played by Josh Brolin.
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113. As each character is introduced, the previous scene references that character. It begins when Fury says to call in the rest of the team, leading to the next scene of Black Widow being called. In that scene she is told to bring in "the big guy", referencing the Hulk. The next scene has her luring Bruce Banner. In the next scene, Fury is having a video conference with the World Security Council and says a war is won with soldiers, leading to the next scene with Captain America. In that scene, he says the tesseract should've been left in the ocean, leading to the next scene, in which Iron Man is in the water.
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114. Since landing on the Helicarrier, Bruce Banner wears a purple shirt. In the comics, The Hulk predominantly wears purple pants.
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115. Tony and Steve's constant bickering towards each other and near confrontation on the Helicarrier is a nod to their Civil War story line where they took opposing sides to superhero registration.
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116. CAMEO: Stan Lee: (At around two hours and ten minutes) Creator of such Marvel comics as the X-Men, Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, and many others, is the old man being interviewed at the end of the New York battle montage who says: "Superheroes in New York? Give me a break!" and then returns to a game of chess with a fellow senior citizen. He also appeared in a deleted scene: after witnessing a waitress flirt with Steve Rogers, Lee's character says, "Ask for her number, you moron!"
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117. According to Joss Whedon, it was his decision to include Thanos in a post-credits scene: "He, for me, is the most powerful and fascinating Marvel villain. He's the great-granddaddy of the badasses, and he's in love with Death, and I just think that's so cute. Somebody had to be in control, and had to be behind Loki's work, and I was like 'it's got to be Thanos'."
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118. (At around one hour and nine minutes) While Fury and the Avengers are arguing with each other on the Helicarrier, characters throw certain remarks that coincidentally foreshadow plot points in subsequent films: Steve asks Tony what he is without his armor, a topic deeply analyzed in Iron Man 3 (2013); Fury aggressively chastised Thor about foreign species going to his planet to "blow stuff up", which comes into play in Thor: The Dark World (2013), with the invasion of Asgard by the Dark Elves. The most unassuming one (which is ironically translated into the biggest plot point in the whole cinematic universe) is when Bruce asks Natasha if Captain America is on threat watch, to which she replies "we all are". In Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Steve (and by extension, Natasha) becomes a fugitive of S.H.I.E.L.D. after the "murder" of Nick Fury. Natasha also mentions that S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats, which plays heavily into this film as well.
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119. (At around one hour and twelve minutes) A few seconds before Hawkeye's attack on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarrier, Bruce Banner finds the Tesseract's location on the computer. This explains why he later arrives in New York City during the invasion of the Chitauri, after the Hulk fell to the ground from the Helicarrier, during Hawkeye's attack.
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120. Body Count: one hundred fifty-one (including the Chitauri).
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121. (At around thirty-seven minutes) Jasper Sitwell, outed as a H.Y.D.R.A. operative in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), makes an appearance in this film. He is the Agent who first finds Loki in Germany, through the facial recognition they were running.
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122. It was revealed in an interview that the Galaga playing SHIELD agent was dusted behind the scenes of Avengers Infinity War.

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Most people would say that the greatest gangster movie ever made is The Godfather, but a strong argument could be made instead for Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. It is certainly the more entertaining of the two, with its impeccable soundtrack, fast cuts, sense of humor, voiceover narration, and all-over-the-place narrative structure.
RELATED: Goodfellas: 10 Most Iconic Moments, Ranked
Also, it’s based on a true story. The life of Henry Hill actually happened. The Corleone family is entirely fictional. Goodfellas_’ adaptation of true events adds a whole new layer to both the comedy and tragedy of the story. With that in mind, here are the 10 Most Memorable Quotes From _Goodfellas.

Updated on May 28th, 2020 by Ben Sherlock:_Even with the critical acclaim met by The Irishman, Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas remains one of his most popular films. A number of critics compared The Irishman to Goodfellas, but called it a more mature film. It has a slower pace, a more nihilistic tone, and a heavier focus on the immense guilt rattling around the heads of mobsters. With its rapid pacing, pitch-black humor, and Jules and Jim-inspired all-over-the-place editing, Goodfellas is endlessly rewatchable, so we’ve updated this list with a few more entries._15 I Like Going This Way…

“I like going this way. It’s better than waiting in line.”
The long tracking shot through the Copacabana found in _Goodfellas_ is one of the most iconic shots in the history of cinema. Henry skips the line, takes Karen into the club through the kitchen, and has a table brought out for them right in front of the stage. It’s easy to see why Karen was seduced by Henry’s lavish lifestyle.

14 You Wasted Eight F****** Aprons On This Guy

When a man with a gunshot wound collapses on the doorstep of Tuddy’s restaurant, Henry springs into action and starts plugging up the wound with aprons until the man makes it safely into the back of an ambulance.

For all intents and purposes, this makes him a hero. But Tuddy doesn’t see it that way; he just sees all the missing aprons. He says, _“You’re a real jerk. You wasted eight f*ckin’ aprons on this guy. I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with you. I gotta toughen this kid up.”_13 To Me, It Meant Being Somebody In A Neighborhood Full Of Nobodies

What makes Goodfellasarguably the best mob movie ever made is that it doesn’t just depict hitmen killing people for mafiosos and gangsters stealing cigarettes out of trucks. It also shows the seductive nature of the mafia lifestyle.
We understand exactly why Henry Hill wanted to be a gangster, and why that lifestyle seemed so appealing. When he was growing up, being a gangster seemed like “_being somebody in a neighborhood full of nobodies._”

12 F*** You, Pay Me

In voiceover, Henry explains what it’s like to have Paulie as a business partner: _“Any problems, he goes to Paulie. Trouble with a bill, he can go to Paulie. Trouble with the cops, deliveries, Tommy, he can call Paulie. But now, the guy’s gotta come up with Paulie’s money every week, no matter what. Business bad? Fck you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? Fck you, pay me. Place got hit by lightning, huh? Fck you, pay me.”_11 You’d Be Late For Your Own F***** Funeral

Long before Pulp Fiction_would make him an icon, Samuel L. Jackson played a small role as Stacks Edwards in _Goodfellas. Instead of ditching the truck that they used in the Lufthansa heist like he was supposed to, Stacks got stoned.
So, Tommy goes over to his apartment and tells him to get dressed. But while he’s getting dressed, Tommy says, “_You’d be late for your own f*ckin’ funeral,_” and shoots him in the back of the head.

10 They even shot Tommy in the face…

They even shot Tommy in the face, so his mother couldn’t give him an open coffin at the funeral.

Perhaps the most awful moment in the whole of Goodfellas_is when Tommy heads to what he thinks is the ceremony in which he’ll be made and gets killed. As Henry explains the whole thing, we get a haunting look and how strictly the mafia stick to their rules: _“It was revenge for Billy Batts, _and a lot of other things. And there was nothing that we could do about it. Batts was a made man, and Tommy wasn’t. And we had to sit still and take it. It was among the Italians. It was real greaseball s**t. They even shot Tommy in the face, so his mother couldn’t give him an open coffin at the funeral.”_9 I got to admit the truth…

I got to admit the truth. It turned me on.

One of the smartest moves Martin Scorsese made with the writing and directing of _Goodfellas_was following Karen’s storyline as well as Henry’s. Not only does the movie explore the mentality of someone who ends up being a career criminal; it explores the mentality of someone who gets romantically involved with one. And Lorraine Bracco plays the character with so much gravitas and humanity. Our first glimpse into her psyche is a fascinating one: _“I know there are women, like my best friends, who would have gotten out of there the minute their boyfriend gave them a gun to hide. But I didn’t. I got to admit the truth. It turned me on.”_8 I’m an average nobody…

I’m an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.
At the end of Goodfellas, it might seem as though Henry gets off easy by selling out all his friends to the FBI and going into the Witness Protection Program. But as his final voiceover monologue points out, he’s left completely unfulfilled. He had everything he ever wanted and then lost it. Now, he has to live a mundane life in the suburbs like everybody else. Henry might have avoided jail by ratting out all of his friends – something he was told since his childhood never to do – but he feels just as trapped in his new life as if he had gone to jail.

7 I’m gonna go get the papers…

I’m gonna go get the papers, get the papers.

A commonality among the best crime stories is that they explore how criminals get their nicknames, and it’s usually something pretty trivial. For example, in the very first scene of the very first episode of The Wire, Jimmy McNulty launches into a monologue about how a kid was given a beautiful name by his mother and then one day, just because he forgot to grab a sweater on his way out and he ended up with a runny nose, he ended up with the lifelong nickname Snot. This was pioneered in Goodfellas, in which Henry Hill says, _“There was Jimmy Two Times, who got that nickname because he said everything twice.”_6 Hey, Tommy, if I was gonna break your balls…

Hey, Tommy, if I was gonna break your balls, I’d tell you to go home and get your shine box.
Joe Pesci’s character Tommy DeVito has a contentious relationship with pretty much everybody, but none more than Billy Batts. Billy knows that Tommy is a hothead and he likes to push his buttons. Tommy asks him politely, _“Just don’t go bustin’ my balls, Billy, okay?”_RELATED: Goodfellas: Every Major Performance, Ranked
And then Billy says, _“Hey, Tommy, if I was gonna break your balls, I’d tell you to go home and get your shine box. Now, this kid, this kid was great. They used to call him Spitshine Tommy. I swear to God! Now, he’d make your shoes look like f**kin’ mirrors. ‘Scuse my language.”_It’s a tense scene, since we’re just waiting for Tommy to erupt – and he does.

5 If we wanted something, we just took it

Part of what makes _Goodfellas_the quintessential mob movie is its exploration of the mob lifestyle and what leads people into organized crime in the first place. As Henry Hill explains in voiceover: _“For us to live any other way was nuts. Uh, to us, those goody-good people who worked sh**ty jobs for bum paychecks and took the subway to work every day and worried about their bills were dead. I mean, they were suckers. They had no balls. If we wanted something, we just took it. If anyone complained twice, they got hit so bad, believe me, they never complained again.”_4 Oh, I like this one…

Oh, I like this one. One dog goes one way, the other dog goes the other way.

One of Martin Scorsese’s directorial trademarks is putting his mother, Catherine Scorsese, in his movies. But she usually has a cameo role. Her biggest role is in Goodfellas, when she plays Tommy Devito’s mother. Tommy, Jimmy, and Henry go to visit her and have a bite to eat. It’s a long scene, at least in relation to this fast-paced movie, and the tension comes from the fact that there’s a guy bleeding out in the trunk of their car. The whole time, he’s in the back of our minds, while Tommy nonchalantly analyzes his mother’s new painting: _“Oh, I like this one. One dog goes one way, the other dog goes the other way, and this guy’s sayin’, ‘Whadda ya want from me?’”_3 Never rat on your friends…

Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut.
Martin Scorsese wasn’t able to secure the funding for _Goodfellas_until Robert De Niro agreed to play the mobster Jimmy Conway in the film. He’s not the star of the movie, but he is an important figure in Henry Hill’s life. As a kid, Henry is arrested and doesn’t tell the cops anything, which makes the other mobsters proud.
RELATED: “As Far Back As I Can Remember…” 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Goodfellas
Jimmy says, _“I’m not mad, I’m proud of you. You took your first pinch like a man and you learn two great things in your life. Look at me. Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut.”_On repeat viewings, this scene acts as harrowing foreshadowing for the big finale.

2 What do you mean I’m funny?

Joe Pesci could’ve won his Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on the basis of this scene alone. It’s one of the first scenes in the movie and establishes his dangerously unstable jokester character early one. Henry says, “You’re really funny!”_and his smile drops. “_What do you mean I’m funny?… _You mean the way I talk?”_Henry says, _“It’s just, you know, you’re just funny. It’s funny, the way you tell the story and everything.”_Pesci’s character Tommy DeVito says, _“Funny how? I mean, what’s funny about it?”_Eventually, it devolves and he’s shouting: _“I mean, funny like I’m a clown? I amuse you? I make you laugh, I’m here to f**kin’ amuse you?”_And then it turns out he was messing with him the whole time.

1 As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster

This line from near the beginning of the movie is not just the best quote in Goodfellas; it might just be the single greatest quote in film history. Not only is it memorable and an exciting way to start the movie; its placement in the story speaks volumes. We’ve just seen these three guys sitting in silence, driving through the countryside, and then they open the trunk of the car to reveal a bloodied man. They stab him, shoot him, and bury him. Then Scorsese closes on Ray Liotta and, in voiceover as Tony Bennett’s “Rags to Riches” comes on the soundtrack, he says, “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.” You really wanted this life? It opens the discussion of the mobster lifestyle that the whole film explores.
NEXT: 5 Reasons Martin Scorsese’s Casino Is Underrated (And 5 Why It’s Just A Goodfellas Rip-off)
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This is a cross post from a Medium article I wrote about this, I thought it might be interesting as the state election is next week.
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The NSW State election is approaching. I decided it was time to find out what each of the parties had to say about their policies. What follows is a brief summary of all the independents and political parties running stand for. I have done by best to provide a good faith reading of these parties and, when relevant, have attempted to clearly notate any editorial comments.

Legislative council parties:

Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers

The Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers are an agrarian, social conservative, and libertarian party whose policy platform is based around ending the government regulation of environmental protections and standards, as well as laws about maintaining native biodiversity which often conflicts with crop plantings. Their main goal is to remove the ability of external forces (governments, courts, or activists) from interfering with the direct commercial goals of land owners as they prize individual property rights which they believe as violated by land reform legislation. Beyond this, they also aim to assist NSW farmers by pushing for drought assistance to combat the current prolonged drought, as well as pushing for further tax cuts aimed at farmers.
Like many other current right-wing groups, they have coalesced behind supporting the end of renewable subsidies and pushing for the building of more coal power stations. Uniquely, they also want to end the interconnection of NSW power to other states in a pseudo-isolationist move. This also means that they oppose many policies about regulating carbon and other pollutants, however as they also support deregulated fishing they are currently signalling their difference from the NSW National Party by wanting to prevent further mass fish deaths in the Murray Darling River.
As part of their right-wing libertarian streak, this consists of ending most government regulation of gun control, whilst also signalling support of ‘tough on crime’ policies and supporting the police and prison guards.

Socialist Alliance

The Socialist Alliance is a traditional socialist political party who are focused providing a more egalitarian society where wealthy individuals and corporations pay aggressively higher taxes to fund re-distributive policies increase the standard of living for lower income peoples. They also want to expand public transport along with taking privatised assets back into public ownership.
They also want to switch to a renewable energy economy and make NSW explicitly anti-racist and a safe haven for refugees. They also believe that our current electoral system is flawed so they wish to introduce a series of electoral reforms to introduce electoral recalls at all levels, and make all levels of government proportional instead of our current mix of representative and proportional government.

Sustainable Australia

Sustainable Australia is focused on what they see as the issue with our current immigration rate. Under their ideological view, having a high immigration is detrimental to Australia as it causes “over-development”, as their website claims, as well as increasing housing costs, and environmental damage. Whilst not explicitly stating it, they appear to be planning on addressing the predicted losses in economic growth from their policies through diversifying the economy. This anti-immigration view covers refugees, as whilst they will allow them to enter the country they believe they should stay around their local region and work be done to improve safety there.
From their policy platform, it appears as if Sustainable Australia wants to limit overseas trade as they have policies on restarting Australian manufacturingjobs, which would assist our economy if we were no longer utilising low cost overseas manufacturing sources. However, they appear to be on-board with the current environmental consensus as they want to transition to a renewable energy economy and want to protect natural lands.

Greens

As one of the minor major parties, most of their policy platform should be somewhat known. It is dominated by their positions on the environment where they want to rapidly transition towards an entirely renewable energy sector, as well as more general policies about reversing environmental pollution of air, land, and water-bodies. Broadly, they are the most prominent socially and economically progressive party in NSW at the moment. However, they are anti-genetically modified crops [Ed. note — this is due to a flawed belief that ‘organic’ food is better than modified, which is not supported by any current research consensus.]
Of note is a current “civil war” within the NSW Greens between the two faction which respectively believe that the Greens should be focused entirely on the environment, and the other who believe that they should be a vehicle for broader democratic socialist policies. However, there has yet to be any noticeable policy arguments (publicly at least) around this, so the factional struggle may be personality based.

Animal Justice Party

The animal justice party is a leftist political organisation based strongly around broadening animal rights and protections. The majority of their policies are to do with ending the killing, or harming of animals in any way. Seem to want to end the use of companion animals (pets) in general but are addressing that bit by bit by limiting how you can adopt animals. They also view population growth as bad for animals and the environment and thus believe we should keep growth at replacement rate, which implies limiting immigration. However, limited policy detail on environmental and climate action policies, broadly says we need a carbon tax and to shift to a renewable power economy.

Advance

Advance is actually a coalition of the Advance Australia Party and the Motoring Enthusiasts. Their policies goals seem to be addressing housing affordability, increasing Sydney’s desirability as a tourist destination, anti-gambling — specifically Barangaroo, desiring the return of the Sydney Monorail — which appears to be driven by their distaste of the Light Rail, pro-electric cars, and “fixing the roads”. Not sure on their political alignment, appear to be a centrist neoliberal party without a social justice platform or any re-distributive policies.

FLUX

Ah, FLUX. FLUX is not a political party in the traditional sense as they have no actual policies in of themselves. They’re a single issue party, which wants to more or less end our Representational Democracy model and replace it with an electronic platform which is a mix of Direct, Representational, and Delegate Democracy where you use ‘an app’ to either directly vote, or nominate someone to vote for you on every piece of legislation in parliament. Legislation, which I assume is also crowd sourced?
[Ed. note — INTERESTING. Meow-Ludo Meow-Meow (real person) who has been a candidate for the Science Party (formerly the Future Party, now running as the James Jansson group) for the last couple of elections has moved to FLUX and is the candidate for Willoughby. You may know him as the dude who put the OPAL chip inside his hand.]

LaboCountry Labor

NSW Labor has a typical modern centre-left policy platform. However, of note is their recent moves to ban single use plastic bags, phase out single use plastics, invest ~$140 million into local recycling projects, and of particular note they claim to want to seek a treaty with the NSW indigenous peopleswhich would replicate similar treaties in Canada and New Zealand. This treaty would cover: recognition of historical wrongs, addressing health and education services, and language rights.
This election, NSW Labor is trying to differentiate themselves from the Liberal Party by emphasising their goals to decrease housing and hospital costs, as well as addressing industrial concerns, such as wage theft and underpayment, as well as providing increased services such as more education facilities and free public transport for children. Another policy difference is their goal to divert the currently allocated funds for stadium redevelopments towards other policies such as renewable powered air conditioning for public schools.
They also wish to legislate 10 days paid domestic violence pay, in addition to investing $158 million towards building new domestic violence and sexual assault courts, increased victim compensation, and increased funding to shelters and advocacy groups.

Liberal/The Nationals

The Liberal/National coalition will be running this campaign based on their record over the last eight years which has constituted increased building of private toll motorways as well as the building of more commuter lines, specifically the light rail and North-West Metro. The party however has been dogged by their more draconian policies around nightlife and music policiesin general. This has been paired with their alleged failures on environmental policies based on the recent spate of mass fish deaths in regional NSW resulting from widespread rorting of water resources by the large commercial cotton farms.

Australian Conservatives

The Australian Conservatives are a factional splinter of the Liberal Party of Australia. They were started by Cory Bernardi who left the party because of his views of the “corrosive left” of the Liberal Party. As such, they are an extremely conservative party. Their policy agenda does not meaningfully move away from orthodox right-wing business politics, and government regulation, as they are libertarian on this front. Their main focus is on ‘white resentment’ politics. This is as their most detailed policy statements deal with ending “gender reassignment” and “political indoctrination”. Their main goals is to realign Australian with their conservative views on what it means to be an Australian, that is to be white and hetero-normative [Ed.]. Broadly they are quite similar to the current Republican party in American in terms of their social and economic views. This party is part of the current wave of populist(whilst not actually being populist as their policies will benefit the 1% primarily) “Western Civilisation” politics based around Nationalism and anti-leftism.

Keep Sydney Open

Keep Sydney Open appear to be a civil libertarian party based around getting the government and its regulation out of the music scene and Sydney nightlife. Their main party agenda is the end the Sydney Lockout laws and the current government’s policies around policing music festivals. Have no really stated political goals outside of this niche beyond some language around a stronger ICAC, and introducing 24 hr public transport. Of note, not actually running a candidate in the Seat of Sydney, where the lockout laws apply.

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are an aggressively libertarian party whose only elected member is David Leyonhjelm. The main thrust of this party is promoting “individual liberty”, which is mostly expressed as reducing the ability of governments to enact regulatory legislation, and letting businesses pay less tax. They see effectively no place for the government beyond Defence, and maintaining property rights.
Editorial: the Liberal Democrats use a very American strategy of campaigning, which is “triggering the left”. They’ve also engaged in sexist and racist behaviours in their effort to gain votes from the same constituency of One Nation, Australian Conservatives, and Men’s Rights Activists.

Voluntary Euthanasia Party

The VEP are a single issue party, and that is enacting legislation for voluntary assisted dying. They appear to be a party dedicated to ensuring quality of life up until death through both allowing death to happen on your own terms, increasing palliative care, and improving access to medical cannabis. Beyond that, they claim to be a moderate progressive party and will vote on a case by case basis for all legislation under that framework.

Christian Democratic Party

Otherwise known as the Fred Nile Christian Democratic party. A Christian religious party aiming to “glorify God in government”. Under that framework, are pro-business. Their main niche is ensuring that NSW remains a tacitly Christian state by legislating SRE classes (they’re the ones who made SRE mandatory and that you have to specifically opt out, whilst also making information about that hard to find). This party is extremely conservative about sexuality and gender identity and believe that there is only two gendersand you should only be heterosexual, and thus want to remove the Safe Schools program.

Small Business Party

Another neoliberal business party whose policy focus is on cutting business taxes and regulation, claiming they’re a drain on the economy. This extends to wanting to reduce housing Stamp duties and power prices. Also are anti-immigration as they claiming current NSW immigration is unsustainable and there is no place for them here. [Ed. note — current immigration rate is reason we’re not in a recession at the moment.]

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation

One Nation is the most prevalent of the current Australian mainstream populist (whilst not being popular) ‘white resentment’ political parties. Under the NSW leader Mark Latham — who has a colourful past — the party has taken a specifically Men’s Rights Activist lens as it has explicit platforms on their idea that white men are being repressed in our society.

Outlaw the new Left-wing discrimination against men, boys, Christians and white people, including a ban on discriminatory ‘employment quotas’ and segregationist ‘safe spaces’ — One Nation policy outline

This platform extends towards explicitly racist policies, and removing recognition of transgender people’s rights. These policies manifest themselves through their anti-Islamist rhetoric, claiming that they’ll end “Islamic Radicalisation in schools”, being anti-multiculturalism, and putting forward a policy that only individuals who “pass” a genetic test [Ed. note — which is bullshit] can get Indigenous peoples specific social welfare.
These policies around Indigenous peoples also extend to the Indigenous Land Reform Councils as they claim they’re hoarding billions of dollars which should be taken. Like other prominent white resentment parties, One Nation also supports pro-business reforms such as protectionist policies to maintain monopolies, and cutting their taxes and regulations, as well as being anti-renewable energy and fixated on coal power.

Seniors United Party of Australia (group G)

The Seniors United Party is pushing forward a policy agenda aimed specifically at senior citizens, such as being focused on increased funding and undoing of Liberal/National cuts to superannuation. They also wants oversight and regulation of aged care providers. However, like many other parties running in this election, they are a anti-immigration party and wants to see reduced in overall migration levels.

Monaghan and Monaghan (group H)

This is a husband and wife duo from the northern beaches and the majority of policies appear to be focused on a “not in my backyard (NIMBY)” agenda in regards to the Northern Beaches. However also wants to ban brothels and 24/7 gambling, and very specifically the Woolworths in Mosman.

Jeremy Buckingham Greens splinter group (group L)

Buckingham is a former Greens MLC who left/got kicked out of the party over allegations he committed an act of “sexual violence”* towards a staff member. This was investigated and dropped due to insufficient evidence to substantiate the allegation. Teamed up with Alan Jones to help stop coal seam gas mining
His policies are a little hard to nail down as his content is limited on his website, but based around his previous statements it broadly aligns with the environmental aspects of his former party, the NSW Greens. Of note however, is his desired collaboration with American Tech Baron, Elon Musk, to build a tunnel through the Blue Mountains from Western Sydney to Lithgow.
\allegation was revealed under parliamentary privilege by Newtown MP Jenny Leong. May have been done as part of the current NSW Greens civil war over whether or not they should be a climate action party or a more broadly socialist party.*

James Jansson (group S)

A re-branding of the Science Party as they aren’t registered at State level. Focused on increased transportation, housing density, etc. Seem to be greenish Radical Centrist party with focus on changing regulation and increasing funding without really rocking the boat or doing anything substantial.

Various Independents

Tony Edwards: no clear policy directions stated, with more of a general anti-right perspective.
Ellie Robinson: Anti-corruption platform and wants to address climate change, disability rights, animal justice, indigenous rights.
John Brett: anti-national debt candidate, focus on removing foreign involvement and getting more people back into trade jobs.
Ron Bogan: pro euthanasia, helping out senior citizens, pro-National Energy Guarantee (therefore neoliberal on climate action), focus on the Shire and Western Sydney. Campaign slogan — “put a bogan in parliament”
John Hunter: no information online about him.
Bryn Hutchinson: “progressive independent” — focus on police accountability and a NSW Human Rights Act.
Danny Lim: this is the guy with the billboard hanging around Newtown and the city who’s billboard said “Tony [Abbott] you cvn’t.” From what I can find, running principles of egalitarianism, anti-racism, broadly leftist, pro-renewable energy, investing in public healthcare, removing private healthcare insurance rebate, increasing refugee intake.
Andre Brokman: found his Medium blog — pro-Council amalgamations to increase centralisation and reduce ‘chaos’ in Sydney planning, appears to be a transportation enthusiast. His bio: “Andre Brokman is a full time city planning student and part time uber driver”

No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough.
-Roger Ebert
The length of TLJ was the most common criticism by far, with 50% of RT Top Critic's citing it as a problem. Thus, this is the longest entry of this series, and possibly the last, unless I do a smaller part on niche issues. Previous parts cover Humor and Canto Bight.

The movie is overstuffed with plot, and by the time the visually intoxicating and eye-popping last showdown happens, it feels like a set piece that should have been saved for the next film. At a whopping two hours and 32 minutes, “The Last Jedi” overstays its welcome just a tad.

Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service - Fresh

Writer-director Rian Johnson steps into the franchise fray and does a creditable, if uninspired, job. At about 2-1/2 hours, it’s a long sit.

Peter Rainer,Christian Science Monitor - Fresh

Rian Johnson delivers a film that’s a bit too long at 2½ hours

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Fresh

Does the movie, like its predecessor, rely on familiar tropes a bit more than it should? Yes, I think it does. Is it, at a solid two-and-a-half hours, considerably longer than it needed to be? Yes, that too.

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic - Fresh

It’s simply too long at two hours and 36 minutes – and sometimes too damn much. The screen is so crowded with character and incident that you might need a scorecard to keep up.

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone - Fresh

The problem is that the narrative threads connecting them are lazily knitted and sometimes tangled or broken. The overall plot is underwhelming and there’s far too much padding, especially during the first hour. There’s a sense that Johnson is giving busy-work to certain characters while others are catching up. The Last Jedi is a great 105-minute movie stretched too thin.

James Berardinelli, ReelViews - Fresh

The midsection sags and, other than the heroes’ desperate attempts to survive, there’s no central story line to pull the various satellites of action in its wake. Some of the characters, like Captain Phasma, get frustratingly little screen time.You feel the 2½-hour length at points.

Ty Burr, Boston Globe - Fresh

The movie, though - at 152 minutes, easily the lengthiest in the series - drags in the middle, particularly when Rose and Finn go off on a complicated mission to disable an enemy tracking device. The subplot not only goes nowhere, it takes forever to do so, and makes me wonder if this new trilogy is going to have the same problem as the prequels - material for two terrific films stretched out over three.

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger - Fresh

The film’s paunchy middle section includes a trip to a casino that might better have ended up on the cutting-room floor. The unnecessary padding accounts for the 152-minute running time, a franchise record, which will test the patience (and bladders) of even the most devoted followers.

Peter Howell, Toronto Star - Fresh

Nor is its frankly excessive 152-minute running time. There is no excuse for a long, inessential stampede of runaway space horses that has zero value beyond the sheer "Ben-Hur" spectacle of the thing.

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune - Fresh

Johnson's many additions become too much of a good thing and The Last Jedi grows crowded, busy and long. Johnson's dialogue is flat and sounds stilted in the mouths of his younger actors, while their comic delivery can be so offhand that it dismisses the jokes.

Kate Taylor, Globe and Mail - Rotten

The film simply drags too much in the middle. Somewhere in the film’s 152-minute running time is an amazing 90-minute movie.

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly - Fresh

Johnson at times overreaches trying to balance these separate storylines and myriad of characters into one cohesive unit. Lupita Nyong’o has nothing to do in her glorified cameo appearance, while the Del Toro section fails to reach its potential. The result is a bloated running time of about 2 ½ hours — that includes about seven different points in which I was sure the movie was going to end only to see it continue to plow ahead. You always want your Star Wars films to move at light speed, not drag in the middle.

Mara Reinstein, Us Weekly - Fresh

At other points in the 152-minute film, time should have been compressed, and wasn’t. The storytelling bogs down in a middle section having to do with finding a code-cracker who can gain access to an enemy destroyer. (A dubious character played by Benicio Del Toro isn’t sufficiently amusing.) Kylo’s inner conflicts, while central to the plot, leave him looking awfully mopey for long periods of time as he struggles to resolve them.

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal - Fresh

With a running time of two and a half hours, “The Last Jedi” drags a bit in the second act. Ridley and Hamill are great together, but the Reluctant Jedi act plays on for at least one scene too many.

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times - Fresh

Johnson’s effort is ultimately a disappointment. If anything, it demonstrates just how effective supervising producer Kathleen Kennedy and the forces that oversee this now Disney-owned property are at molding their individual directors’ visions into supporting a unified corporate aesthetic — a process that chewed up and spat out helmers such as Colin Trevorrow, Gareth Edwards, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. But Johnson was either strong enough or weak enough to adapt to such pressures, and the result is the longest and least essential chapter in the series.

Peter Debruge, Variety - Fresh

Unfortunately, The Last Jedi has almost as much Attack of the Clones as it does The Empire Strikes Back in that it’s overlong, under-edited and has at least one particularly long-winded CGI flurry of a sequence that harkens back to the darkest days of the franchise. There’s no whining about sand getting everywhere and the acting is really strong across the board (Hamill is particularly great back in Jedi robes, ham and all) but The Last Jedi could definitely have used a second editorial pass.

Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot - Fresh

At 2 1/2 hours, Star Wars: The Last Jedi could have been tightened-up in the editing room, cutting out that bloated middle section and removing things like Maz Kanata’s cameo and the cute slave kids which feel like they dropped in from a totally different movie. When it works, it really works but when it doesn’t, it feels like bad fan-fiction with a million dollar budget.

Niall Browne, Movies in Focus - Fresh

I can only wonder what The Last Jedi might have been with Finn and Poe taking a backseat (like how the latter was absent for three-quarters of The Force Awakens) so thirty minutes could be cut and the “important” stuff made tighter. Because there is a great film within what’s ultimately a good one.

Jared Mobarak, BuffaloVibe - Fresh

Whereas the first half is a sort of a convoluted mess just for the sake to pad out the runtime especially with an inconsistent tone, "The Last Jedi" becomes a dark and exciting sequel that becomes the film you've been looking for by the 75-minute mark.

Rendy Jones, Rendy Reviews, Fresh

the film is probably 10-15 minutes too long. Yes, Snoke (Andy Serkis) was not given near enough explanation and Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) was wasted.

Robert Daniels, 812filmreviews - Fresh

It's a two-and-a-half hour movie. It needs to be good in its own right, not just setting up for the next episode.

Tony Baker, Tony Baker Comedy - Rotten

Johnson ends up biting off more than he can chew. He's juggling too many storylines, and takes too long to move the narrative forward. Fatigue sets in about three-quarters of the way in. He doesn't heed the lesson of the chapter “Jedi” often resembles, “The Empire Strikes Back.” That film, still the best “Star Wars.,” ended with a whopper of a cliffhanger. Johnson resists the urge to leave most of his strands unresolved, and as a result his film begins to feel unwieldy when it should be picking up momentum. At two and a half hours, it could have used a trim of at least 15 minutes.

Ruben Rosario, MiamiArtZine - Fresh

but there are problems with the first half of "The Last Jedi." After an exciting initial space battle, to say that the mid-section of the movie drags would be an understatement. First, both prominent new characters Rose and DJ seemed shoe-horned in, and Rose especially doesn't seem to have a real place in this film nor does she add anything to be hopeful about in the future. And while both Rey and Poe fans will probably be pleased with where their characters go, Finn sort of takes a step back, as he is sent off on a side adventure that seems like second-tier Star Wars. It's a diversion that takes up a good portion of the film and really serves no purpose to the overall story...worse yet, it seems to contain some heavy-handed political messages not commonly found, at least not this blatantly, in the Star Wars universe. These are more than just quibbles too: Most fans will not be used to the slow, lumbering pace or the general unevenness of this film...especially coming on the heels of the action-packed pacing that JJ Abrams brought in Episode VII.

Tom Santilli, AXS.com - Fresh

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is also, at two hours and thirty-two minutes, the longest of the nine movies thus far, and deep into the second hour it can feel a little draining. There’s some stuff that feels extraneous (the whole Canto Bight sequence, which seems to exist to set up a new Lando-like character played by Benicio del Toro), and the cycle of attack and retreat — mostly retreat — gets a bit monotonous.

Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com - Fresh

At times it burns a tad too slow: two-thirds through its jam-packed 152 minutes, I felt the need for a 7th-inning stretch.

Michael Sragow, Film Comment Magazine - Fresh

Aunque este clímax habría funcionado bien como final, “The Last Jedi” no termina (desafortunadamente) después de esto. Es seguido por otros 40 minutos, con baches, en los que los héroes se reúnen y tienen que pelear una batalla final. Sin embargo, la película pierde un poco de su trazabilidad aquí, cuando los personajes, las fuerzas y las explosiones siempre aparecen exactamente donde se necesitan para la trama.

Ruben Peralta Rigaud, Cocalecas - Fresh

The movie’s main failing is that it tries to stuff too much plot into its over-long 2 hour and 30 minute run time. The result is an ending that feels endless and anti-climactic while several elements that could have been gob-smacking feel rushed and underdeveloped. It particularly does a disservice to Kylo Ren, as we’re never quite sure what his motivation is.

Megan Basham, WORLD - Fresh

I both loved it and strongly disliked it at the same time. I feel like there's a really great movie in there, all the pieces are there, everything is brilliant, but then there's a lot of extra fat that needed to be trimmed off or rearranged or omitted completely.

Steph Cozza, Aggressive Comix - Fresh

At two-and-a-half hours, with about nine separate cliffhanger endings, it’s a bit long

Bill O'Driscoll, Pittsburgh City Paper - Fresh

If you can accept the excess, the weird humour, the entirely inessential subplot, and the fact that it could stand to end a scene earlier, then the series will continue to thrive in a galaxy far, far away.

Alex Doenau, Trespass - Fresh

The script is flabby; every scene has purpose, but certain aspects feel overlong and jarring. Just like Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, it also suffers several endings too many.

Owen Richards, The Arts Desk - Fresh

At two and a half hours, this is the longest Star Wars picture to date, and I wondered if they’d tried to pack too much in.

Molly Laich, Missoula Independent - Fresh

I’m saying some of this movie seems a little half baked, and also overstuffed. If there’s any kind of movie I want to be over two and a half hours long, it’s a Star Wars movie. But, at that length, it needs to be a really good Star Wars movie, not a so-so one. The Last Jedi is so-so.

Bob Grimm, Reno News and Review - Fresh

The Last Jedi has a few good ideas but these are utterly lost amidst an over-long and utterly unsatisfying overall plot. Replete with poor dialogue, irritating tonal shifts and superfluous scenes, The Last Jedi adds very little to the saga except an overwhelming sense of disappointment not felt since the release of The Phantom Menace.

Richard Dove, International Business Times - Rotten

It is more than 150 minutes long. It has too many plot twists and too much fighting and too many characters.

Mark R. Leeper, Mark Leeper's Reviews - Fresh

Many have complained or commented on the length of The Last Jedi. It did start to feel long towards the end, yet I don’t think it was due to the actual time stamp of the film. Instead, I believe it is because of the drawn out plots within the film itself. Many parts of the story are over showcased destroying the strength and believably in the plot.

Stephanie Archer, Film Inquiry - Fresh

This film did not need to be 152 minutes and should have been closer to the 120 minute standard established by the earlier films. I hope one day we’ll see a fan cut that is actually closer to two hours.

Chris Gore, Film Threat - Fresh

The Last Jedi is still overstuffed, slightly too long, reliant on some vaguely-defined powers, and mostly consists of an endless chase towards a shifting MacGuffin.

Vincent Mancini, FilmDrunk - Fresh

The Last Jedi is 50 fucking minutes too long, and the most excruciatingly boring movie that has ever been released in this franchise. And this is a franchise that once opened up a movie by talking about controversial tax legislation.

Tim Brayton, Alternate Ending - Rotten

The Last Jedi has some issues. Pacing is the biggest one. This is the longest Star Wars film so far, and it feels like it. Johnson does his best to hustle from one location to the next, but the narrative has a tendency from time to time to drag.

Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm - Fresh

While Luke leads the Force thread, the battle between good and evil, the rest feels a bit standard issue action film lurching through one, or two, too many cycles of near peril. This is in part down to writer-director Rian Johnson and also down to patchy leads.

Aine O'Connor, Sunday Independent (Ireland) - Fresh

Writedirector Rian Johnson’s movie is underwhelming. Where it falters is a story that borrows heavily from others in the franchise like The Empire Strikes Back. That I can live with, but I can’t live with unnecessary length. This is an overdone 2 1/2 hour movie that would have been a terrific 90-minute extravaganza.
The first hour drags. The predictable second hour is just as tedious in more spots than not before Johnson finally moves you to the even more predictable slam bang action of the last half-hour.

Gary Wolcott, Tri-City Herald - Fresh

At 152 minutes, The Last Jedi is the longest of the nine Star Wars films to date — it’s also the only one where the length is felt. While all the scenes involving younglings should have been deep-sixed, the rest of the fatty tissue can be forgiven, since it simply meant Johnson wanted to make sure fans were saturated and satisfied. Yet there aren’t many vignettes that couldn’t have benefited from a judicious trim here or there.

Matt Brunson, Creative Loafing(Charlotte) - Fresh

At 2 hours and 32 minutes, the longest ever in the series, there are lots of highlights and probably a few too many endings

Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily - Fresh

Despite the Rey-Luke drama, the first half of The Last Jedi is its most lumbering and uneven, never really clicking as it rambles through its multiple plotlines in a manner that feels simultaneously rushed and overlong.

James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk - Fresh

However, there are moments towards the end of the film that feel as though they are just a tad unnecessary, that the race to the finale is going on just a little too long.

Irene Falvey, Film Ireland Magazine - Fresh

So what's necessary to know about the 40th anniversary "Star Wars" is that, at two and a half hours, it's at least a half-hour too long (maybe 45 minutes) and it's overfull of the usual digital battle sequences which so many of us have come to consider a wee bit old hat in the decades since "Star Wars" introduced us to a new thing back in 1977.

Jeff Simon, Buffalo News - Fresh

Johnson has sorted all of this material into an elaborate roundelay that feels endless (the movie is way too long at two and a half hours). Surely sections of the film could have been trimmed—maybe the Laura Dern scenes, which cry out for compression, or the training sequences with Luke and Rey (in which he says things like "Reach out with your feelings").

Kurt Loder, Reason Online - Fresh

The film is long, however, and begins to feel more than a little labored by the time the various epic showdowns finally take place.

Piers Marchant, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - Rotten

A lot of “The Last Jedi” is engrossing and emotional—but there’s also the long runtime, uneven pacing, and slightly underdeveloped characters to deal with. “The Last Jedi” is often exceptional, but its desire to do too many things, tell too many stories, and continue expanding its own cast and narrative makes the film fundamentally imbalanced.

Roxana Hadadi, Chesapeake Family Magazine - Fresh

There is a great deal going on in The Last Jedi and the way it splits off the main characters into separate but intertwined stories makes for a long, over-plotted film that even starts to drag a little in the middle.

Allan Hunter, Daily Express (UK) - Fresh

A few of the goofier comic moments fail to land and true to the legacy of Lucas there’s a fair amount of eye-wincing dialogue. More importantly, the second act bows under the weight of too many narrative strands; Finn’s away mission comes off as a bit superfluous, as does Laura Dern’s Vice Admiral Holdo, and both Rose and the beloved Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) are sadly underwritten. In a trade-off that brings scope and complexity, Johnson has sacrificed narrative efficiency.

Christopher Machell, CineVue - Fresh

If “The Last Jedi” has a main flaw it’s that it’s too long at just over two-and-a-half hours. When the film is cross-cutting between the escape of the Resistance and the showdown with Snoke, one might assume this was the climax of the film. In fact, there’s much more to come.

Daniel M. Kimmel, New England Movies Weekly - Fresh

At 152 minutes, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" is too long, and could have been trimmed by at least 10-15 minutes.

David Kaplan, Kaplan vs. Kaplan - Fresh

Despite being overlong and drenched in déjà vu (replete with conversations about one’s parents, whether or not one will ‘turn’, whether one is the last hope or the new hope, etcetera etcetera) I appreciated a lot of The Last Jedi, in the same way I appreciate re-reading a decent book – respecting the structure and craft of it, and feeling no sense of surprise.

Luke Buckmaster, The Daily Review/Crikey - Rotten

At 152 minutes, “The Last Jedi” is probably 20 minutes too long yet never fails to entertain.

Maria Sciullo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Fresh

If some of these detours drag on a bit, hampering momentum and bulking up The Last Jedi’s not-entirely-necessary two-hour-and 32-minute runtime, well, at least the various locales are fun to look at.

Rebecca Pahle, Film Journal International - Fresh

a running time of 152 or so minutes that easily could have been tightened down quite a bit

Jim Judy, Screen It! - Fresh

While many complained – justifiably – that the previous entry, The Force Awakens, was nothing but a remake of 1977’s A New Hope, the same sort of narrative déjà vu is at play here, to a certain degree. Equally troublesome is Jedi’s bloated running time. Clocking in at 2 ½ hours, the movie seems longer than it actually is due to the fact we’re going over well-covered narrative territory.

Charles Koplinski, Illinois Times - Rotten

It’s too long by a good 30 minutes, feels like two films mashed together, has about five endings and it seems to be taking cues from the George R. R. Martin school of right-angled plot twists.

Patrick Kolan, Shotgun Cinema - Fresh

Overly long and consistently clunky, The Last Jedi ultimately proves a bit of a mixed bag. Too often the dialogue is exposition heavy and played for easy laughs.

Tom Glasson, Concrete Playground - Fresh

The Last Jedi is overlong, heavy-handed and fun if mostly uninspired.

James Verniere, Boston Herald - Fresh

At 151 minutes, the film is overlong and repetition sets in, not just for this film but for the series in general

Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews - Fresh

The Last Jedi is the party that never wants to end. It keeps going and going – and going – until there is no corner of the house left to decorate. It pushes all the buttons. It is constantly in competition with itself (it comes with two huge ending sequences). It is also baggy in places, and that’s not something I’d expected.

Chris Wasser, The Herald (Ireland) - Fresh

At the same time, it does take a while for “Last Jedi” to get up to speed. Some of the humor feels a little distracting and the lengthy final product suggests a tighter execution might have felt more resonant.

Josh Terry, Deseret News (Salt Lake City) - Fresh

Or maybe it's just a case of "The Last Jedi" itself overstaying its welcome with a running time topping two and a half hours.

Greg Maki, Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) - Fresh

This is the longest Star Wars movie yet, clocking in at 150 minutes, and it has at least one ending too many, and a middle that sags a bit.

Rain Jokinen, MullingMovies.com - Fresh

We’ve seen this story before. Sure, “stuff” happens over the film’s 157-minutes but our main characters remain pretty much in the same place. You’d swear time stands still.

Dana Barbuto, The Patriot Ledger - Fresh

“The Last Jedi” is the longest of the “Star Wars” efforts (152 minutes) and feels it

Brian Orndorf, Blu-ray.com - Fresh

At 152 minutes, it’s also way too damn long. And Rian Johnson should not have been allowed to write and direct. The script is a problem — it has only two really great “moments” which isn’t enough for 152 minutes. But it also doesn’t feel quite right — the language, the iconography, the weirdly campy humor at the beginning — it doesn’t feel a part of the Star Wars universe.

Ray Greene, CineGods.com - Rotten

But the character moments and the explorations of moral ambiguity aren’t quite compelling enough to compensate for the slow pacing in the middle (one thing a Star Wars movie should never be is dull), and it takes too long to get to the most rousing action sequences.

Josh Bell, Las Vegas Weekly - Fresh

I don’t want to be too generous. I would cut 15 minutes out. There are editing choices that leave the film feeling choppy when it should feel smooth.

David Poland, Movie City News - Fresh

In truth, it takes a very long time to get from the film’s exhilarating start to that moving sign-off. Stars Wars: The Last Jedi lasts fully two-and-a-half hours, and there were moments towards the end when I felt like one of those poor Cubans listening to Fidel Castro at the height of his oratorical vigour: just as you’re planning your route to the exit, it lurches into yet another new lease of life.

Brian Viner, Daily Mail (UK) - Fresh

Editor Bob Ducsay moves the individual sequences along with dispatch; it isn’t his fault that at two-and-a-half hours the movie overstays its welcome. That’s the fault of Johnson’s decision to pile climax upon climax as if they were on sale at Screenplays-R-Us, apparently unwilling to jettison any of the ideas he’s had for propelling the story forward.

Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion - Fresh

Which leads into another problem I mentioned briefly earlier -- the pacing. Watching the first hour, I had the uncomfortable sense that maybe it needed trimming by about ten minutes or so, and that Rey's and Luke's story kept stalling and going in circles for a while. Then, the pacing in the last hour is so spot-on, it confirms all of those earlier feelings. Adding to the problem is the choice of starting point for the film. I realize kicking off with a more action-driven sequence has benefits, but it felt disorienting since we remember how the last film ended and probably want to pick up that thread first. It was an easy call, I feel, and the film's choice merely confirms my own sense that there was a better option.

Mark Hughes, Forbes - Fresh

The 2 hr and 30-minute runtime really hurt the film. I feel like there are just certain spots throughout the film where it just drags. It hard to pinpoint exactly when and where they occur on just one viewing but I was definitely bored at times.

Scott Menzel, We Live Entertainment - Fresh

“The Last Jedi” suffers from “The Lord of the Rings” syndrome — it seems like it might never end. It also poaches scenes, ideas and moments from “Harry Potter,” “The Hunger Games” and “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

David Frese, Kansas City Star - Fresh

At 152 minutes, “The Last Jedi” runs long, with a bit too much time spent on Ahch-To. And Hamill — who shares the weathered, lion-like look of modern-day Robert Plant — turns in a true love-it-or-hate-it portrayal of an aged Skywalker.

Ross Raihala, St. Paul Pioneer Press - Fresh

At over two-and-a-half hours, the film had me reconsidering if I really needed a Finn v. Phasma fight, or a five-act structure. So consider the urgency. A wordsmith in his own right, Johnson seems to be dumbing himself down here for the sake of the brand. He manages to pose some of the most complex ideas on morality and war this franchise has ever attempted, but is forced to breeze through and cap them off with trite buzzwords.

Conor O'Donnell, The Film Stage - Fresh

The film is overlong at two and a half hours, and you may well catch yourself thinking “this could probably have been cut.”

Jonathan Hatfull, SciFiNow - Fresh

Yes, it’s probably half an hour too long. There is a whole section that feels out of kilter and harks back to the CGI naffness of the prequels — and is also virtually pointless to the plot.

Jamie East, The Sun (UK) - Fresh

The middle section loses its shape and is subject to longueurs.

Ian Freer, Empire Magazine - Fresh

The Last Jedi is the longest Star wars movie, and it does feel like it. The third act is a beating drum of moments that each seem like they could be a satisfying climax.

Susana Polo, Polygon - Fresh

Where the film falters is in its pacing. Even jumping between three storylines, there’s a lack of momentum at times as no one is really going anywhere. The Resistance fleet is crawling away from the First Order; Rey is in a stalemate with Luke on Ahch-To; and obviously things aren’t a breeze on Canto Bight. And yet the dramatic tension of the first two storylines hold up intact. The fleet storyline plays like the excellent Battlestar Galactica episode “33” and everything is Ahch-To is great because Johnson is doing some fascinating things with the character dynamics between Rey, Luke, and Kylo Ren. But the Canto Bight stuff is a bit of a drag, and then you feel it in final act of the film where, despite some amazing moments, you can’t shake the feeling that The Last Jedi is probably a bit too long even if it’s difficult to know what to cut.

Matt Goldberg, Collider - Fresh

There's a lot going on - too much. The film could have used a hard edit to lose about 20 minutes or more. Resistance ships explode and the fleet's fuel running low, but it doesn't keep us on the edges of our seats. Poe, Rey and Finn- the new heroes we're supposed to fall in love with - are uncharismatic and bland.

Julie Washington, Cleveland Plain Dealer - Fresh

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a long work of art that doesn't know when to quit

Scott Mendelson, Forbes - Fresh

If there's a problem, it's only that it's a little too long at two and a half hours (a first for the franchise), which might prove challenging for younger viewers. It turns out you can have too much of a good thing after all.

Matthew Turner, Hero Collector - Fresh

Tran is a rock-solid addition, but here, and elsewhere, one is reminded of the deftness of editing on both (yes, both) previous trilogies. Intercut sequences that moved swiftly in earlier films feel clumsy. Where once the passing of time was cannily implied yet compact on screen in, say, “Empire,” in “Last Jedi,” well ... you can fit a lot of movie into 152 minutes.

Joe Gross, Austin American-Statesman - Fresh

But The Last Jedi’s two-and-half-hour sprawl still includes an awful lot of clunky, derivative, and largely unnecessary incidents to wade through in order to get to its maverick last act. This is especially true when it comes to the plausibility-straining mission of stormtrooper turned Rebel Alliance fighter Finn and puckish series newcomer Rose Tico.

Sam C. Mac, Slant Magazine - Rotten

Some tighter editing would have relieved most of my mid-movie tension — as well as my bladder concerns as “The Last Jedi” stretches to an unnecessarily long 151 minutes. If not for that spectacular final act, it would be tempting to refer to it as “The Lasts and Lasts and Lasts Jedi.”

Christopher Lawrence, Las Vegas Review-Journal - Fresh

The Last Jedi is a whopping two-and-a-half hours, and it would have been much improved if an editor had taken a lightsaber to its less crucial sections.
To cut a long story short (and I wish Johnson had cut his own long story short): if you’re getting bored halfway through The Last Jedi, hang on in there. Just when you think it’s about to end, it really gets going.

Nicholas Barber, BBC.com - Fresh

For the first half of a punishingly long film, we repeatedly cut back to Star Wars Island where Rey is begging Luke to train her as a Jedi.

Donald Clarke Irish Times Rotten

There are times, however, when the wow factor and compelling character beats give way to the feeling that Johnson lost the run of himself with the film's duration, and that the longest adventure in Star Wars history really didn't need that distinction.

Harry Guerin, RTÉ (Ireland) - Fresh

Several characters remain underdeveloped, and appear as well dressed plot devices which contribute to an unevenness hard to justify in the 151 minutes running time.

Jon Lyus, HeyUGuys - Fresh

Even Johnson’s sense of fun and mischief can’t sustain the film for two-and-a-half hours; the warring gets boring. One scene is replayed three times with different interpretations but it’s hardly Rashomon and a movie this long can’t afford to dawdle. No one could mistake The Last Jedi for an outstanding contribution to cinema, or even to escapism, but it has its attractions.

Ryan Gilbey, New Statesman - Fresh
Indeed it does, Ryan. And that concludes part III. TL;DR:TLJ is TL.