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
The Two Popes
Reflecting back on the past decade, we have had quite a few memorable films about clerics wrestling with their faith, such as Martin Scorsese's 2016 masterpiece "Silence", Paul Schrader's "First Reformed", and Xavier Beasvoise's complex [...]
Black Christmas (2019)
On the surface, "Black Christmas" should work in spades. Directed by Sophia Takal, this new take on the classic slasher film has all the ingredients necessary to make a big stamp on the horror genre [...]
Jumanji: The Next Level
by Ben Rothrock Two years ago, four high school kids, Spencer (Alex Wolff), Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain), Martha (Morgan Turner), and Bethany (Madison Iseman) discovered Jumanji, a magical board game that turned itself into a dangerous [...]
Richard Jewell
Clint Eastwood's latest film gives an eerie glimpse of what it's like to be wrongfully accused. "Richard Jewell" explores the tragic chronicle of the late Atlanta security guard who, during the 1996 Olympics reported a [...]
6 Underground
There are some truly evil people in the world; some who sadly have the money and power to evade the law. We all have those fantasies of taking them down. We all want to make [...]
Playmobil: The Movie
In 2014, The Lego Movie changed what we thought a movie based on a toy line could be. It wasn’t just a mediocre feature-length commercial. It used the toys to their advantage and created a [...]
Martin Scorsese Retrospective–Best Scorsese Films, Ranked
For over 50 years now, Martin Scorsese has created an impressive roster of films. Without a doubt, Martin Scorsese is one of the greatest and most brilliant filmmakers to ever live. With an impressive array [...]
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
French auteur Celine Sciamma is one of the most breathtaking and consistent directors working in French cinema today. She will always be championed for her authentic and honest portrayals of female characters. From her breakthrough [...]
Marriage Story
Just like all of Noah Baumbach films, "Marriage Story" merges wry humor with coarse melodrama. His latest effort marks the 12th feature film (if you are counting his documentary "De Palma") and it his perhaps his [...]
Dark Waters
Often message movies about environmental issues can become heavy-handed, yet "Dark Waters", the eighth feature film by acclaimed director Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven, Carol) unravels itself in a sophisticated and engrossing way that never [...]
Queen & Slim
The 2010's have been an astonishing decade for bold, diverse storytellers. Emerging filmmakers such as Barry Jenkins, Ava Duvernay, Jordan Peele and Steve McQueen all making their own dent in the current cinematic landscape, forging [...]
21 Bridges
We first meet NYPD detective, Andre Davis (Chadwick Boseman), as he is investigated by Internal Affairs after having fired his weapon for the 8th time in his 10 years on the force. We also flashback [...]
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
It is important to note that "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" is not generally even about Fred Rogers, or even a behind-the-scenes retelling of his beloved public television show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood", in fact [...]
Spotlight of the Week-Long Day’s Journey Into Night
While we live in a decree of mass over-saturation and franchise enslavement, how can American audiences even make room anymore for great pieces of cinema that get little marketing? If we can make time for [...]
Knives Out
by Ben Rothrock The Thrombey family is about as dysfunctional as the term gets. Headed by successful mystery author Harlan (Christopher Plummer), his children and grandchildren do nothing but leech off of his immense wealth, [...]