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Mel Valentin

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Born and raised on the East Coast, Mel attended NYU before moving West, settling in San Francisco, mostly for the weather and proximity to the ocean and state parks. Mel has written film and festival reviews dating back more than a decade, mostly for defunct or out-of-print publications. He currently writes for Cinapse, Screen Anarchy, and That Shelf.

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
The Testament of Ann Lee (2025) 86% EDIT “Elevated by Seyfried’s career-best, award-worthy performance, and Fastvold’s unerringly assured direction, The Testament of Ann Lee will inevitably stand the test of time and emerge not just as one of the year’s best, but one of the decade’s best films.” – That Shelf Mar 6, 2026 Full Review Scream 7 (2026) 31% EDIT “It’s the same as it ever was for the series, and that’s really the central problem with Scream 7. It’s run out of juice; it’s woefully short on ideas, meta-slasher-related or otherwise; and it’s creatively bankrupt. ” – That Shelf Mar 6, 2026 Full Review Sweetness (2025) 89% EDIT “Pop music meets Misery in this enthralling psycho-thriller. ” – That Shelf Mar 6, 2026 Full Review André Is an Idiot (2025) 95% EDIT “Tony Benna’s standout contribution ... a richly imagined, deeply affecting, often hilarious journey through the eyes, ears, and body of ... a successful advertising executive diagnosed with stage-four colon cancer.” – ScreenAnarchy Mar 4, 2026 Full Review Union County (2026) 97% EDIT “Union County enters on Cody Parsons (producer-actor Will Poulter, delivering a career-redefining performance).” – ScreenAnarchy Feb 12, 2026 Full Review The Gallerist (2026) 54% EDIT “Undoubtedly slick, undeniably stylish, and almost as tedious, stale, and vapid as the self-serving, narcissistic art-world characters at its center. ” – ScreenAnarchy Feb 11, 2026 Full Review Hanging by a Wire (2026) 88% EDIT “Possibly due to budget limitations, time, or both, the partial recreations fall disappointingly short of expectations. ... With a too-short running time, Hanging by a Wire often feels like it’s speed-running through key events.” – ScreenAnarchy Feb 11, 2026 Full Review I Want Your Sex (2026) 88% EDIT “Doubles as a return to form for the long-absent [Gregg] Araki and a reminder that he remains a vital, even essential, voice in indie filmmaking.” – ScreenAnarchy Feb 8, 2026 Full Review The Invite (2026) 91% EDIT “A smart, albeit slightly overlong, adult entertainment, the kind of adult entertainment all too rare in the multiplexes of today. ” – ScreenAnarchy Feb 8, 2026 Full Review Night Nurse (2026) 78% EDIT “Ultimately, Night Nurse promises far more than it delivers narratively or thematically, but as a calling card for the talented Bernstein, it should be more than enough to make her next project a must-watch. ” – ScreenAnarchy Feb 8, 2026 Full Review Extra Geography (2026) 100% EDIT “Belongs on the must-see list for filmgoers interested in discovering talented newcomers, a fresh take on a familiar sub-genre, and a worthy, worthwhile exploration of teen psychology and relationships that define them. ” – ScreenAnarchy Feb 5, 2026 Full Review Jimpa (2025) 55% EDIT “Succeeds both as a showcase for its central performances, Lithgow chief among them, and, at least initially, as a compellingly insightful exploration of intergenerational drama, ” – ScreenAnarchy Feb 5, 2026 Full Review Tuner (2025) 94% EDIT “Despite skillful camerawork, editing, and suitably tense pacing ... Tuner never escapes the aforementioned predictable plotting. [Director Daniel] Roher and his co-screenwriter, Robert Ramsey, never stray, not even once, from tried-and-true genre tropes.” – ScreenAnarchy Feb 5, 2026 Full Review The Moment (2026) 66% EDIT “Never rises above a formulaic, surface-deep satire of the music industry and its suppression of artistic expression and creativity.” – ScreenAnarchy Feb 5, 2026 Full Review The Only Living Pickpocket in New York (2026) 100% EDIT “Something truly special, a character study that doubles as a crime drama, a crime drama that also functions as a snapshot in time, a time capsule for a vanishing New York City. ” – ScreenAnarchy Feb 4, 2026 Full Review The Weight (2026) 94% EDIT “Not that stories write themselves (they don’t), but leaning into the elemental aspects inherent in the premise can yield remarkably engrossing stories like Padraic McKinley’s feature-length debut.” – ScreenAnarchy Feb 4, 2026 Full Review Run Amok (2026) 66% EDIT “Will likely alienate as many moviegoers as it engages, if not more. Just as unmistakably, Run Amok announces [writer-director NB] Mager as a major new talent, a talent whose next film … should be at the top of any filmgoer’s must-see list. ” – ScreenAnarchy Feb 4, 2026 Full Review Chasing Summer (2026) 70% EDIT “[Illiza] Shlesinger imbues Jamie with a welcome complexity ... not just a relatable character, but a cut above the one-dimensional characters typical of similarly-premised cable fare.” – ScreenAnarchy Jan 30, 2026 Full Review The Incomer (2026) 91% EDIT “Offers more than its share of surface-deep pleasures for audience members willing to embrace [director Louis] Paxton’s singular take on the "stranger on a strange island" premise. ” – ScreenAnarchy Jan 29, 2026 Full Review Frank & Louis (2026) 92% EDIT “Takes an unhurried, detail-rich approach ... letting dialogue, camerawork, and performances lead the audience ... into the inner and outer lives of men typically forgotten or even discarded by society. ... Nuanced, nonjudgmental. ” – ScreenAnarchy Jan 27, 2026 Full Review Buddy (2026) 83% EDIT “Deftly balancing dark, cringe-worthy comedy with absurdist horror, Buddy delivers exactly what its primary image of a half-charred Buddy wielding an ax in an artificial forest promised: Twisted fun (not) for the whole family. ” – ScreenAnarchy Jan 27, 2026 Full Review Leviticus (2026) 95% EDIT “Brilliant in its conception and even more brilliant in its execution, Leviticus belongs high on a list of queer horror and its discontents.” – ScreenAnarchy Jan 27, 2026 Full Review The Musical (2026) 58% EDIT “Undoubtedly will make a fine addition to the collections of cringe-comedy aficionados.” – ScreenAnarchy Jan 27, 2026 Full Review Josephine (2026) 95% EDIT “A deeply moving, heartrending exploration of the loss of innocence and the unintended consequences thereof.” – ScreenAnarchy Jan 27, 2026 Full Review Song Sung Blue (2025) 77% EDIT “Song Sung Blue skirts, but never crosses, the line between melodrama and drama, camp and non-camp, and excess and restraint.” – That Shelf Jan 12, 2026 Full Review
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