Brianna Zigler

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Paste Magazine, The A.V. Club, The Film Stage
For 125 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 27% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 70% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 8.9 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Brianna Zigler's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 57
Highest review score: 91 If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
Lowest review score: 15 He's All That
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 57 out of 125
  2. Mixed: 40 out of 125
  3. Negative: 28 out of 125
125 movie reviews
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per page
    • 68 Metascore
    • 75 Brianna Zigler
    Leave the World Behind
    The themes of Leave the World Behind—and the place where everything ends up, which is funny and charming but a little unfinished—aren’t as tautly composed as the body encasing them. But considering ideas of “us against them” in times of crisis, and who exactly is “us,” and who is “them,” are worth considering in our current time.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 75 Brianna Zigler
    Thanksgiving
    Roth and Rendell find the perfect balance of humor and horror, understanding the absurdity of their premise while still making their characters buy into the world. What that creates is a film embracing its own silliness, free of irony, while avoiding the pitfalls of oversentimentality.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Brianna Zigler
    Napoleon
    It is less a rich, twisty drama than a journey through a historical figure’s greatest hits, punctuated by more engrossing moments of vulnerability and intimacy that only leave you wishing there were more.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 58 Brianna Zigler
    Fingernails
    I found myself undeniably charmed by a lingering warmth in the coldness of Fingernails, no doubt helped along by the performances of Buckley and Ahmed.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 72 Brianna Zigler
    Perfect Days
    Perfect Days revels in its ambient minimalism as much as its own protagonist, though something is missing. One might ask for more from Perfect Days, a film that finds itself a bit too understated in its understatement.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 35 Brianna Zigler
    AGGRO DR1FT
    Aggro Dr1ft is less interesting than the video game cutscene it resembles, padded by a narrative peppered with the tropes of a hit man action film but lacking substance.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 58 Brianna Zigler
    La Chimera
    The dreaminess, a clear evocation of Fellini, feels well-worn and contrived instead of exciting, coasting on aesthetics.
    • 95 Metascore
    • 85 Brianna Zigler
    Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World
    Radu Jude’s literalized mouthful Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World depicts, perhaps, the most accurate representation of the dystopia we live in, and the supposed impending dystopia that we’re in the process of arriving at.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 85 Brianna Zigler
    The Taste of Things
    The Taste of Things is, in basic terms, a very nice and sweet movie, although Dodin’s grief as the paramours suffer tragedy in their autumn years is emotionally punishing. But there’s not necessarily anything wrong with a movie being “very nice and sweet,” especially one as lovingly crafted as this.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 75 Brianna Zigler
    The Sweet East
    I found myself oscillating between being impressed by The Sweet East and feeling like it was trying very hard to impress me. And it did, though probably less than it intended.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Brianna Zigler
    El Conde
    The concept behind the film is an amusing, if obvious, one-note gag stretched out to nearly two hours, and not a gag that’s particularly novel or one that offers Larraín much to expand upon. As a would-be political satire and a vampire film, El Conde simply doesn’t have much (sorry, sorry, I know) bite.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Brianna Zigler
    Love at First Sight
    The charm of the living memorial comes across quite earnestly, magnified by the sweet performances of Phillips and Dexter Fletcher as her husband, Val.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Brianna Zigler
    Scout's Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America
    While Scout’s Honor may only anger and dismay the audiences that watch it, it’s still a brutal depiction of the foundation of violence, ignorance and apathy which the entire country is built upon, and of the perpetrating parties who continue to profit from it. In that way, Scout’s Honor is as American as apple pie.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 25 Brianna Zigler
    Retribution
    It’s as if Neeson is attempting to maintain the same schtick from Taken, with the children remaining the same age despite his own age ever trudging onward (there’s a twisted Dazed & Confused joke someone could make here). It is a workaround refutation of his mortality without the use of de-aging CGI.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Brianna Zigler
    Strays
    Strays is bad, but it’s not offensively so—and it’s certainly better and more watchable than something like Cocaine Bear (a low bar to cross, albeit).
    • 52 Metascore
    • 30 Brianna Zigler
    Run Rabbit Run
    Run Rabbit Run never gets past the sensation of being a Mad Libs horror movie, where those blank spaces are filled in with the most obvious tropes.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Brianna Zigler
    Aloners
    For a directorial debut, Aloners showcases Hong Sung-eun as an exciting new voice—hopefully next go around she’ll give us a little more to chew on.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 45 Brianna Zigler
    Reality
    There’s a reason that Satter knew Winner’s transcript would succeed as a play, but she brings very little that’s new and exciting as a film director of that same narrative.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 25 Brianna Zigler
    About My Father
    Beyond the tepid cultural commentary, the film has few other redeeming qualities.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 45 Brianna Zigler
    Victim/Suspect
    Victim/Suspect manages to be at once fascinating, improperly focused and somewhat redundant.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Brianna Zigler
    Sanctuary
    Ultimately, Sanctuary’s psychology—which I found a bit muddled at times—is less persuasive than the artistry of shifting, gendered dynamics between Hal and Rebecca, and less enthralling than watching Abbott and Qualley play off of one another.
    • 27 Metascore
    • 55 Brianna Zigler
    Fool's Paradise
    Fool’s Paradise doesn’t come close to clearing the self-imposed hurdle of matching a Chaplin classic or an Ashby satire. But it does sometimes work as a breezy comedy and a satire-lite of vacuous Hollywood, articulated tenfold by the modern Superhero Franchise Industrial Complex.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 35 Brianna Zigler
    Peter Pan & Wendy
    I can’t imagine any child actually enjoying this film, let alone a child who is familiar with and fond of the original animated adaptation.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 40 Brianna Zigler
    Renfield
    It’s not willing to be goofy and gonzo enough for the inanity of its concept, not cool enough for the slick fight scenes it wants to impress you with, and not worthy enough of Cage as Dracula (the real star of this show).
    • 63 Metascore
    • 75 Brianna Zigler
    Beau Is Afraid
    Beau Is Afraid is very much a black comedy that utilizes well-placed horror techniques–Aster has a solid command of tension and loves to swing his camera to and fro to create a sense of vulnerability. Aster’s direction and sense of humor, the latter of which emerged more prominently in Midsommar, just seem more at home in a comedy.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 20 Brianna Zigler
    Paint
    Paint is interested in the meme of the man. As the old proverb goes: A funny meme does not a feature film make.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 45 Brianna Zigler
    Inside
    Inside‘s concept holds creative possibility, yes, but without much, if any, applied, it’s just a guy stuck in an apartment for 105 minutes, going through various stages of disbelief, acceptance, mania, determination and setback as days, weeks and months go by, and desperation becomes more of a necessity than a last resort.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 35 Brianna Zigler
    65
    Beck and Woods seem to have an entirely misguided conception of what people love about B-movies in the first place and, like A Quiet Place, 65 flounders in this middle ground because it won’t commit to being a genre film.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 85 Brianna Zigler
    Knock at the Cabin
    Released a little under two years since Shyamalan’s previous film, Knock at the Cabin plays like an old dog who learned new tricks. It’s a sharper, more propulsive and formally exciting dramatic thriller that has far fewer disappointments in storytelling and visuals than 2021’s Old while revisiting and expanding upon familiar themes of family that Shyamalan has explored his entire career.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 58 Brianna Zigler
    A House Made of Splinters
    Since the quality of documentaries tends to hinge on how compelling its subject matter is, A House Made of Splinters is further complicated by the fact that Wilmont’s filmmaking is largely perfunctory. Thus its draw leans almost entirely on the children and their tattered lives. In this way it does feel a touch exploitative, even if the goal is to shine light on an overlooked, ongoing tragedy.
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