Sue Schopf

A fresh retelling of the vampire story, coupled with a powerful statement about the importance of music to a culture as an expression of its authentic self. A great performance by Michael B. Jordan as the very different twins, Smoke & Stack, & especially by the young musician Miles Caton, who is sensational as Sammie. The film clearly has elements of the horror genre in it; but far more important is the idea of reclaiming what is one’s own, & connecting with something transcendent through music.

Possibly the worst movie I’ve seen this year. An interesting idea is trivialized by a weak script; & Jennifer Lopez’s character, supposedly “the most brilliant analyst” around, demonstrates little self-control in a crisis & spends too much time crying, whining, raging, & smarting off to an AI. I was bored after 45 minutes. The special effects were okay, but not enough to sustain the film.