The Wild Goose Lake
Like Hong Kong filmmakers Johhny To and John Woo, Chinese filmmaker Diao Yi'nan is one of Asian cinemas strongest talents of crime thrillers, infusing most of his films with ravishing [...]
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Another essential and revelatory work from the American independent film arena, "Never Rarely Sometimes Always," the third feature of Eliza Hittman, explores the traumas of two young women who must [...]
Vivarium
One of the most challenging parts of adult life is finding the perfect home. Houses are very expensive, and finding one that suits your needs can be even harder. Whether [...]
Corpus Christi
Polish filmmaker Jan Komasa's "Corpus Christi" is an engaging film about an enigmatic convict named Daniel (Bartosz Bielenia), haunted by internal conflict and past trauma and the shadow of his [...]
2000 Retrospective: The 10 Best Films of 2000
With 2020 upon us, we are mostly staying in to help to stop the spread of COVID-19, I figured it was a good time to reflect back on the essential [...]
Defacto Podcast Appearances
Our podcast appearances on MPI Crew Call is now on iHeart Radio. Give it a listen as podcast host Sara Mahmood along with Defacto film reviewers Noah Damron and Robert [...]
The Jesus Rolls
The Coen Brothers' hilarious 1998 cult classic about mistaken identity and deceit, "The Big Lebowski", is given a loose updating and spin-off with "The Jesus Rolls", a frenzied, unremarkable remake [...]
The Way Back
Director Gavin O'Connor has been one of the most consistent humanist filmmakers in mainstream cinema for well over a decade. Known for acclaimed dramas such as 2004's "Miracle" and 2011's [...]
Greed
Michael Winterbottom's latest film, "Greed" is his most overtly political comedy, a outraged satire on inequality that wears its political agenda on its sleeves but doesn't engage well on a [...]
Bacurau
If the term genre-blurring didn't exist, it would have to be destined to define Kleber Mendonca Filho's and Juliano Dornelles's Brazilian film "Bacurau," a delirious but distinctive post-modern Western political [...]