Kevin Lau

Huzzah! I have just finished the fourth installment of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians  series, the book which is a build-up to the finale and eases fans into a darker tone. The last thing fourteen-year-old Percy Jackson wanted to do on summer break was blow up another school. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happens. Monsters that have not stirred for centuries are coming back with a vengeance, teaming with the Titan Lord Kronos and creating a massive army to take down the Olympian gods. To slow down their endeavors, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson enter the mystical underground tunnels of the Labyrinth in hopes to find its creator, Daedalus, and convince him to their side so Kronos would not be able to maneuver his army wherever he wishes. However, it may take more than two half-bloods, a satyr, and a cyclops to reach their goal, and they may also find more than they expected. Much like with Sea of Monsters , the quality of  The Battle of the Labyrinth ...

I'm just going to come clean and say that I am so  behind on popular TV shows, but hey, at least I can binge-watch them instead of waiting a week for a new episode. Returning to Starling City after marooned on an island for five years, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen does what he promised his father he would do: Take down the people who have ruined his city. To do that, he must become someone his enemies would fear, a symbol others could look up to, someone separate from his family name. Not only must he become someone else, but he must become something else. Armed with a bow and lethal wits, Oliver Queen puts on a hood at night and becomes known as the Starling City Vigilante. His goals are clear, but what he doesn't know is that something bigger is at work. I believe it is safe to say that superhero stories such as Green Arrow can be better told through television than movies. The plots have enough room to develop, as well as the characters and the universe they'...

Three books down, seven to go! Also, this post contains spoilers for those who have not read the previous books. A few months after their journey to the Sea of Monsters and the return of Thalia, Percy and Annabeth receive a distress call from Grover, who claims to have found two demigods. During their rescue of the new demigods, the group runs Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, and her hunters. Unfortunately, Artemis soon goes missing, as well as Annabeth, leaving Thalia and Percy in an uneasy alliance with the Hunters of Artemis to embark on a quest to save them both. Nothing but danger lies ahead as old foes return and older evils begin to stir. Rick Riordan takes the series to a whole other level in this third installment. Much like the first book, The Titan's Curse  brings back a complex plot. There are multiple stories happening as well as the continuation of the series' arc. The writing is well-paced, picking the perfect times to add a high-octane action scene or a...

The quest to read the entire Percy Jackson & the Olympians  series continues with the second book, The Sea of Monsters ! So yes, spoilers ahead for those who did not read the first book (and the movie does not count). When an innocent game of dodgeball at the end of the school year becomes a fight to the death with giant cannibals, thirteen year old Percy Jackson is saved by his friend Annabeth and taken back to Camp Half-Blood. However, only worse things meet them there. Thalia's tree, the tree support the magical shield around the camp, has been poisoned, and the only way to cure it is to retrieve the Golden Fleece from the Sea of Monsters. Joined by Annabeth and his half-brother but full-cyclops Tyson, Percy embarks on an adventure to find the Fleece, but may run into an old foe in the process. The Sea of Monsters  is a worthy follow-up to the The Lightning Thief , though not as complex or well-written. The story is simplified, with a bit of extra plotlines to ...

Prepare yourselves for a dragged-out, two-hour Hunger Games  experience where Katniss Everdeen shoots only one arrow. Seriously, we get more arrow action in CW's Arrow , and that's on a TV budget. Shortly after surviving the 75th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen wakes up in the forgotten, underground base of District 13. Survivors of the bombing of District 12 are there as well, preparing for a revolution to overthrow the Capitol, and they want Katniss to lead the revolution (or at least be their mascot). At first, Katniss is against the idea, but when she finds out Peeta Mellark, her fellow survivor in the past two Hunger Games, is still alive and under Capitol control, she decides to bring the revolution to full force. I have not read the book (I couldn't get past Catching Fire ), but I do know Mockingjay  is not very long, only 400 pages. From my friends who have read the book, they have told me the movie covers about a quarter of the book and, honestly, feels like...

Well, I guess that now Disney own Marvel, they've got the rights to every  series Marvel has published. At least they took something lesser known. Fourteen year old inventor Hiro Hamada is grieving the death of his older brother Tadashi. However, Hiro accidentally activates Baymax, a robotic caretaker Tadashi created. Hiro doesn't care for Baymax at first, but when Baymax inadvertently leads Hiro to the base of a supervillain that uses technology Hiro himself had invented, Hiro must use his inventive skills to figure out a way to stop the masked villain from possibly destroying the city, which may override Baymax's original purposes. Cute and fun, Big Hero Six  is Disney's latest animated film produced alongside Marvel studios. The animation is superb, the colors vibrant and the cinematography was great as well. The story was also great, with cute moments, funny jokes, and decent pacing, but not executed in the best way, keeping it from being the best animated f...

A space-travel movie with the storytelling of Christopher Nolan? Sign me up! When the earth starts becoming uninhabitable, Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and his crew are sent to space to enter a black hole next to Saturn that leads to a galaxy with planets that may prove to be a new home for the people of earth. However, to do so, Cooper must leave his family behind with the possibility that he may never return. With the theory of relativity in play as well (time passing slower to some and faster for others), the crew must be as fast and efficient as possible. I tried to keeps my hopes low upon entering this movie, but it's hard to do that when you're about to see a movie from the same writer and director of Inception , The Prestige , and The Dark Knight  trilogy. Interstellar  still has Christopher Nolan's trademarks: the cinematography, the dialogue, the concept, the twist, and the science. However, a quarter of this three hour movie is a rough patch that brings...