About Defacto Film Reviews
Defacto Film Reviews is a unique site where the film critics are also filmmakers themselves. It will feature weekly reviews as well as lists and more.
Originally formed in 2002 under Defactoweb.com, our website’s chief film critic is Robert Joseph Butler. His top ten lists were featured under Movie City News. His reviews have also been published at Michigan Movie Magazine and on Michigan’s longest running film school website, MPIFilm.com. His reviews have also been featured and published in The Oakland Press as well, which is one of Michigan’s largest newspaper publications.
He later went on to become an award-winning filmmaker of several independent short films including such festival hits as The Spirit of Isabel and Within, which won the Audience Choice Award at the 2015 Cinetopia International Film Festival. His short film “The Girl on the Mat” won Best Screenplay at the 2017 Queens World Film Festival. His most recent feature length movie, “Blood Immortal,” won Best Horror Feature Film at the 24th annual Indie Gathering International Film Festival and is now available to own on DVD and is available on Digital streaming platforms.
Using grassroots support, the site is devoted to celebrating independent and art-house cinema, as well as to high-crafted films that tell engaging stories with vision, focus, and skill.
Defacto Film Reviews is a unique case where the film critics are also filmmakers themselves. We will give readers comprehensible, honest, and erudite analysis of each film.
Rating System–4 Stars
Masterpiece/Top 10 Worthy
Exceptional
Quality
Mediocre
Poor
Reviews published in
Haunted Mansion
Debuting in 1969, The Haunted Mansion has hosted countless foolish mortals for decades, firmly cementing itself into pop culture history. The attraction has been seen as a gateway into the realm of horror for many, myself [...]
Oppenheimer
The previous film from master of cinema Christopher Nolan, Tenet, his chopped-and-screwed take on the Bond thriller, was released amidst the height of the Pandemic, attempting to be the first film to usher audiences back [...]
They Cloned Tyrone
Cloning is a topic that filmmakers have been fascinated with for years. While the roots of the topic are in science-fiction such as Moon or Swan Song, it has found a place in action (The Sixth Day, Gemini Man), [...]
Sound of Freedom
The emerging sleeper hit of the summer, Sound of Freedom has seemingly come out of nowhere and upended all expectations, collecting close to $100 million at the box office, as of this writing. The supposed [...]
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
With now seven films in the franchise under his belt and reaching 61 years of age, cinema's maverick, Tom Cruise, has continued to push the envelope in large-scale filmmaking at a time when very few [...]
Lakota Nation vs. United States
Rarely do documentaries make one feel like their grade school education left out a lot of crucial details about their country's history; Lakota Nation vs. United States does just that. It also highlights the perverse [...]
Insidious: The Red Door
The first Insidious was a major sleeper hit back in 2011. Director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell launched themselves to stardom with the first Saw film, but the filmmakers struggled to find much success [...]
The Lesson
While adaptations of novels often serve as the basis of films, there are also many occasions where a writer themselves, whether real or fictional, has been the subject of a film. While the act of [...]
The Best Films of 2023 so far…
With half of the year already gone, it's now becoming standard for many publications and film buffs to share their choices midway through the year. It opens the gates for many films to carry on [...]
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Indiana Jones, one of the 20th century's great iconic film characters, has given generations of audiences lasting thrills and an influence over cinema that cannot be overstated. Birthed by George Lucas after his love for [...]
Prisoner’s Daughter
Estranged or dysfunctional families have been a source of inspiration for storytelling since the dawn of storytelling. Because we all have had at least some family, these stories are often very relatable. But because of [...]
The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster
From the first minute, the most noticeable aspect of The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster is the freshness it brings to an overdone premise. Mary Shelley's groundbreaking novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, and [...]
No Hard Feelings
The R-rated studio comedy has become one of the larger victims to the streaming era. The days of big, successful studio comedies like Bridesmaids, Girls Trip and The Hangover have severely diminished when streaming services [...]