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
Road to the Oscars: BlackKklansman
Spike Lee's "BlackKklansman" purports itself in being a satirical comedy about racism that ties in modern parallels with the current Trump administration and the script comes off potent, yet too ham handed and forced [...]
Serenity (2019)
Serenity is a difficult film to review. It’s not rare for a films marketing to sell you something completely different from the final product. As a reviewer, I try to keep my head clear of [...]
The Standoff at Sparrow Creek
After hearing of a deadly shooting at a Police funeral nearby, a militia group barricades themselves in a warehouse when they suspect one of them is the shooter. From writer/director Henry Dunham, in his directorial [...]
The Upside
by Ben Rothrock Whether you like it or not, friendship is something our species can’t live without. The feeling of affection between us humans is something that’s been with us since the beginning of time. [...]
2019 Oscar Nomination Predictions
The Golden Globes, the Critics' Choice Awards have came and gone, and the British Academy Awards made their favorites known. The road to the Oscars narrows it's journey on early Tuesday morning, the Academy will [...]
Road to the Oscars: Bohemian Rhapsody
Crafting a biopic of music icon Freddie Mercury and the rock band Queen, the latest Oscar hopeful contender movie "Bohemian Rhapsody" offers your typical biopic cliches and trappings. The film opens up live, only to [...]
Countdown to the Oscars: Green Book
During the era of deeply polarizing political times with charges of racism running rampant against the current President and his administration, one could say so many films released in 2018 dealt with issues of racism. [...]
Shoplifters
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Renowned Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda continues his spirit of Yasujiro Ozu that he has done so often with his impressive filmography that includes "Like Father, Like Son", "Nobody Knows", and "Still Walking" have all [...]
The Best Films of 2018 – Noah Damron
1 - Hereditary (d. Ari Aster) As a viewer, I long to have my imagination set on fire. Not only is that when I get the most creativity, but it’s when I get the [...]
The Best Films of 2018 – Robert Butler
1. Roma (d. Alfonso Cuaron) Hands down, the finest piece of cinema of 2018. A fragmented period piece of a specific place and time, the story of a year [...]
Welcome to Marwen
by Ben Rothrock There are moments in life that are hard to look past. Some people suffer through events so traumatic that the mere memory of it can haunt them and make it difficult for [...]
Mortal Engines
⭐️⭐️1/2 WARNING: Possible Spoilers Ahead! Fantasy has always been one of the most popular genres for storytellers to work in, and audiences to experience. The advantage to fantasy is that the world in which the [...]
Anna and the Apocalypse
Do you like High School Musical or La La Land, but wish they had more… zombies? If you answered yes, then boy do I have the perfect movie for you. Anna and the Apocalypse is [...]
