About Defacto Film Reviews

Arcadian, a post-apocalyptic horror film, featuring Nicolas Cage in a (mostly) subdued role and performance, owes a lot to other films of this ilk. There are elements of M. Night Shyamalan’s work, along with A [...]

The Old Oak, the latest, and possibly the final film, from legendary director Ken Loach, is as vital, stirring, somber, and clear eyed as the rest of his work. Concentrating on a nearly extinct northern [...]

An often terrifying and harrowing experience of a not-so-distant future in which fascism and nationalism (I think) wrap themselves in patriotism and two different America's are at war, writer-director Alex Garland's (Ex-Machina, Annihilation) Civil War [...]

Shades of Italian neo-realism, magical realism, and silent movies are on full display in La Chimera, a moving, observed comedic period drama centered on a Tuscany village that discovers Etruscan artifacts in the 1980s. Strong [...]

“We worship a messiah who suffered, so by suffering, don’t we move closer to Heaven?” “...No, I don’t think so.” This exchange, between the devout Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) and her father Edward (Timothy Spall), [...]

Scoop, from director Philip Martin, seems to want to be She Said, but fails to spark anywhere near the level of excitement, interest, importance or gravity of that earlier film. While the cast is fine, here, [...]

The Listener, from director Steve Buscemi, is an unusual film in the sense that it has only one onscreen character, a woman calling herself “Beth” who works for an unnamed company, where various, and random, [...]

Familiar elements, themes, and plot mechanics go full circle in Woody Allen's Coup de Chance, a compelling study of a love affair in crises that expands on familiar Woody Allen themes dating back to his [...]

Both art-house and high-minded sci-fi aficionados will find common ground for watching the thought-provoking and ambitious The Beast. French actress Léa Seydoux continues to prove she's an actress of great emotional range and versatility (especially [...]

The endlessly screwed-up immigration and economic exploitation that make the American immigration experience challenging are on full display in Problemista. Writer-director and co-star Julio Torres creates a messy, uneven piece of work, capturing the struggling [...]

The Truth vs. Alex Jones, an HBO release, which debuted at South by Southwest on March 11, 2024, is the latest in a long line of strong HBO documentaries, including the Spike Lee works, 4 [...]

The French director Luc Besson (Leon: The Professional, The Fifth Element) is one of the more idiosyncratic film makers working in mainstream movies. His latest work, Dogman, is another unusual flight of fancy, with style, [...]

Exhuma, the new film from South Korean director Jang Jae-hyun is a film of many parts, but two halves, and both offer a lot to viewers, though how much depends on what brand of horror [...]