Special: Batman Vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Screwball, See You Yesterday Mini-Reviews

Batman Vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Synopsis: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles go to Gotham City and discover that the Foot Clan is working with the League of Assassins to reign terror over Gotham. Batman then teams up with the Turtles while investigating to save Gotham from the newfound alliance.

My thoughts: I had previously read the comic book series and worried it would be a near identical adaptation but it was changed enough while keeping the core story in tact that it was enjoyable for me without being too much of a retread. Overall the movie was strong but I wasn't a fan of the animation style so it's hard for me to call this a perfect movie. I will say that DC and Nickelodeon did a great job balancing this flick so it appeals to DCAU fans while still being kid friendly enough for the Nickelodeon fans.

Final verdict: 4 cartoon crossovers out of 5.

Screwball:

Synopsis: Recounting the high-profile doping scandal that rocked Major League Baseball, director Billy Corben (Cocaine Cowboys) takes us into the surreal Miami underworld that provided performance-enhancing drugs to Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and other star players. They say South Florida is a sunny place for shady people and this is certainly true of steroid peddler Anthony Bosch and his most notorious client, Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees. While Bosch's medical credentials may be lacking, his storytelling skills are first rate as he hilariously details the rise and fall of his "health clinic", including mob connections, financial chicanery, his cocaine habit, and Rodriguez's eccentric behavior. The documentary plays like a madcap Floridian crime comedy in the vein of Elmore Leonard or the Coen Brothers while it raises serious questions about the ethics of professional sports. Powerful interests would be happy to let this story slip from memory, but Screwball makes it unforgettable.

My thoughts: You normally wouldn't rave over the storytelling of a documentary but you have to for Screwball. They have the real life people recounting their stories while children dressed like them act it out. It's a riot. It's compelling and it's incredibly interesting even if you only have passing knowledge of steroids in baseball.

Final verdict: 4 anti-aging clinics out of 5.

See You Yesterday:

Synopsis: High school best friends and science prodigies C.J. and Sebastian spend every spare minute working on their latest homemade invention: backpacks that enable time travel. But when C.J.'s older brother Calvin dies after an encounter with police officers, the young duo decide to put their unfinished tech to use in a desperate bid to save Calvin. From director Stefon Bristol and producer Spike Lee comes See You Yesterday, a sci-fi adventure grounded in familial love, cultural divides and the universal urge to change the wrongs of the past.

My thoughts: A nice modern day time travel tale. I'll be up front in saying sci-fi is not my cup of tea so this was a harder sell but as far as these things go this was fine even if it was a tad predictable the powerfulness of the story made up for that.

Final verdict: 3 time travelling backpacks out of 5.

Special: Justice League Vs. The Fatal Five, The Hustle, Hellboy Mini-Reviews

Justice League Vs. The Fatal Five

Synopsis: The Justice League faces a powerful new threat, the Fatal Five. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman seek answers as the time-traveling trio of Mano, Persuader and Tharok terrorize Metropolis in search of budding Green Lantern. This may drastically change the destiny of the universe.

My thoughts: This is a really good introduction to the Legion of Superheroes into the DCAU of movies. Now this is technically not canon to the shared universe but it's a starting point for people so they can put them in the mainline series and not miss a beat. The writing was strong and the JLU style animation is always welcomed as is the voice of our main cast. DC could've done better but not that much better as this is a pretty good movie overall.

Final verdict: 4 teenagers from the 31st century out of 5.

The Hustle:

Synopsis: Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway have winning chemistry as a pair of con artists plying their trade in a stunning seaside town in the south of France. Josephine Chesterfield (Hathaway) is a glamorous, seductive Brit with a sprawling home in Beaumont-sur-Mer and a penchant for defrauding gullible wealthy men from all corners of the world. Into her well-ordered, meticulously moneyed world bursts Penny Rust (Wilson), an Aussie who is as free-form and fun-loving as Josephine is calculated and cunning. Where Penny amasses wads of cash by ripping off her marks in neighborhood bars, Josephine fills her safe with massive diamonds after ensnaring her prey in glitzy casinos. Despite their different methods, both are masters of the art of the fleece so they con the men that have wronged women. Wilson's talent for physicality and Hathaway's withering wit are a combustible combination as the pair of scammers pull out all the stops to swindle a naive tech billionaire (Alex Sharp).

My thoughts: It wasn't completely unwatchable, but it was completely un-funny and even though Anne Hathaway deserves better she did nothing to redeem this movie either. It's a stinker.

Final verdict: 2 gender-swaped remakes out of 5.

Hellboy:

Synopsis: Hellboy is back, and he's on fire. From the pages of Mike Mignola's seminal work, this action packed story sees the legendary half-demon superhero (David Harbour, "Stranger Things") called to the English countryside to battle a trio of rampaging giants. There he discovers The Blood Queen, Nimue (Milla Jovovich, Resident Evil series), a resurrected ancient sorceress thirsting to avenge a past betrayal. Suddenly caught in a clash between the supernatural and the human, Hellboy is now hell-bent on stopping Nimue without triggering the end of the world.

My thoughts: It doesn't touch the animated or Del Toro films. But it didn't need to in order to be good, but it didn't quite reach that either. It seems this movie was made due to the success of R rated superhero movies lately and they decided to give Hellboy that treatment except with a low budget it all just kind've looked forced and mildly cringy. This movie is a big ol' meh at it's core.

Final verdict: 3 demons out of 5.

Special: Top 10 Most Valuable Funko POP!

Those who know me know that I love me some Funko POP's. When I first saw them I thought they were cool but I've never been much of a toy collector so I couldn't justify the money... That all changed when I was in a liquidation store where I saw Hal Jordan sitting on the shelf priced at $5, so I had to buy it, FYI the value as of this writing of that $5 purchase is $24 American! He was my only POP for a couple months until I went to a Comic Con and decided I'd buy a 2nd one... That day Batman was added to my collection of two. A while later my girlfriend was in the states and picked me up a Deadpool and Donatello and she told me how much cheaper they were there and that's when things spiralled out of control and now here I am over the 80 Funko POP mark wondering where I would be had I started collecting right away, maybe I'd have some of the more valuable ones! Speaking of valuable ones, that's the topic of this post. I'm looking at the Top 10 most valuable Funko Pop's, ones that aren't exclusives, variants or limited, these are simply ones that at one time or another were found in any store at any time. Here's hoping I'm lottery bound so I can add some of these to my collection!

10. Misfit Elephant
Line: Holidays
Number: #6
Current Value: $110

I'm fortunate enough to have a few of the Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer POP's but this one unfortunately will elude me until I can come into some money. Since the new year 9 of these beauties were sold on eBay. The low end was $65 the high end was $220 in mid-April. Wanna add him to your collection? There's 2 up on eBay now, one at $220 the other at the steal of $149.95... Looks like this ones value will be increasing even more very soon.

9. Red Skull
Line: Marvel
Number: #7
Current Value: $125

It's surprising this one is valued so high. There appears to be a lot of sellers so clearly there is enough out there but for whatever reason it's consistently commanding over $100. For comparisons sake in April 2015 there were 11 sold on eBay. Still lots for sale though if you don't wanna wait for this one to come back to earth, there's even some around the $120 mark.

8. Purple Haze
Line: Rocks
Number: #1
Current Value: $135

#1's are worth a lot, just ask any comic collector. The surprising part about this Hendrix POP is that as late as January 2015 this was still going in the high double digits but since then it's had a couple big sales ($200 and $225) that cause it's value to shoot up. The good news? There's one up now that is for auction and the current bid is only $56... Get on that Hendrix fans.

7. Loki (Thor Movie)
Line: Marvel
Number: #2
Current Value: $140

This is the first in a couple ties that gets held down by it's low sale in the last 30 days ($93). Believe it or not there is a Loki more valuable than this one... The Avengers movie Loki (#16) is currently going for $640! Unfortunately it was a Comic Con exclusive limited to 480 pieces. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has done wonders for Loki, usually an afterthought in the comics Tom Hiddleston made Loki, and his merchandise, value's skyrocket.

6. Shazam!
Line: Heroes
Number #14
Current Value: $140

Since DC was one of the first to license their properties to Funko a lot of their early POP's are valuable especially those that have seen their stock go up since they've been retired and Shazam is the first of many you'll see. It's actually a tie in value but because there is a low sale of $102.50 in the last 30 days it gets the ow end of the tie.

5. Hawkman
Line: Heroes
Number #17
Current Value: $140

Finally the end of the $140 ties, Hawkman's low sale comes in at $115. It's actually been higher the last couple sales which could lead to Hawkman's value climbing, though if a lot of people decide to sell it could cause the opposite to happen since similar to Red Skull a lot of people own Hawkman so we'll have to see how his market plays out but right now it's sitting pretty in the top 5.

4. Greedo
Line: Star Wars
Number: #7
Current Value: $155

Want a valuable POP that you can probably find at your local comic book/toy shop? Greedo is the one for you! Funko has recently released a series of Star Wars POP's from the vault in anticipation of the new Star Wars movie later this year. These "vault editions" however carry different boxes than the original so although you can get a vault edition for $11 the original Greedo remains the holy grail of the Star Wars line though it's possible that with the vault edition Greedo's price can take a dive.

3. Martian Manhunter
Line: Heroes
Number: #18
Current Value: $185

Believe it or not this POP is on the rise... Manhunter's last 10 sales had 5 checking in between $150 and $185 and 4 between $200 and $240. A lot of people are starting to put Manhunter up on eBay but he's not that well owned so it's not likely that we see a market flood happen, it's definitely possible that this becomes the crown jewel of the Heroes line but until that happens the title belongs to...

2. Green Arrow
Line: Heroes
Number: #15
Current Value: $250

Surprisingly this one actually shot up $10 in value since I made this list a couple days ago. Green Arrow is the perfect storm of events. It was a popular enough character to warrant a POP in the early going, got retired because he wasn't THAT popular and then the TV show hit it's stride any everyone wanted the emerald archer... Recently his POP sold for an astonishing $389.95! Manhunter's gotta work!

1. A Clockwork Orange
Line: Classics
Number: #4
Current Value: $2,610

Okay so I cheated here but I wanted to point out the ridiculousness of this piece... Limited to 12 pieces this is far and away the most valuable POP in the world. The 2nd closest is another 12 piece edition, clone trooper Freddy Funko, unfortunately it's value is hard to ascertain since there has only been one sale in September 2014 for $2,025.00