That Shelf

Jason Gorber

Editor-in-Chief / Chief Critic

Jason Gorber is a film journalist, programmer, Golden Globe Voter, and member of the Toronto Film Critics Association and OFCS.

He is the Director of Film Programming at the Blue Mountain Film + Media Festival, CBC Radio Metro Morning's Film Correspondent, and regularly contributes to POV Magazine, Collider, Paste Magazine, A.V. Club, RogerEbert.com.

Jason's writing has appeared in Esquire, The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Screen Anarchy (aka TwitchFilm), SlashFilm, HighDefDigest, Birth.Movies.Death, IndieWire and more. He has appeared on CTV NewsChannel, CP24, and many other broadcasters.

Jason has been a jury member at the Reykjavik International Film Festival, Calgary Underground Film Festival, RiverRun Film Festival, TIFF Canada's Top 10, Reel Asian, Festival Regard and Fantasia's New Flesh Award.

He is a longstanding Tomatometer-approved critic and additional links to his writing can be found at Metacritic.

Emma Badame

Managing Editor / Social Media Director / Senior Critic

Emma is a Grade-A pop culture nerd. Aside from garnering her a one-time win on Jeopardy!, she's parlayed that passion into a career⁠ interviewing everyone from Emma Thompson to Yorgos Lanthimos. Emma spends her days as a digital content specialist for award-winning features and documentaries, as well as accompanying film Impact Campaigns.

She has produced extensive coverage of TIFF, Comic-Con, and D23, and has been featured on/in eTalk, CBC News, POV Magazine,The Mary Sue, Cineplex Magazine, Smart Entertainment, MuchMusic, CTV's PopLife, CityTV's Breakfast Television, TALK 1010, and more.

Emma is also a film programmer with the Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival and has served on the Short Film Jury at the AoDR Film Awards. She is also a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic and a member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ).

If she's not watching movies or TV, she's probably planning another trip to London or watching another British panel show.

Pat Mullen

Associate Editor / Senior Critic

Pat Mullen received an MA from Carleton University where his studies focused on adaptation and Canadian cinema. He is the publisher of POV Magazine, Canada’s destination for documentary culture, and has contributed to other publications including The Canadian Encyclopedia, Beatroute, Awards Daily, Paste, Xtra, Documentary, and his independent blog Cinemablographer. Pat is the president of the Toronto Film Critics Association, a member of the Online Film Critics Society and GALECA, and an international voter for the Golden Globe Awards.

He lives in Toronto with his cat, Fellini.

Rachel West

Associate Editor / Senior Critic

Rachel West is a former senior producer for ET Canada and Cineplex with a B.A. (Honours) in Film Studies from Carleton University. She has interviewed everyone from Michael Fassbender to Miss Piggy and has reported live from TIFF, SXSW, Star Wars Celebration, Comic-Con, D23, CinemaCon, BAFTA Tea Party, the SAG Awards, and the Golden Globes, among other events.

Her film writing and interviews have appeared in publications and outlets including Entertainment Tonight, Global News, Shaw Connect, The National Post, Toronto Film Scene, Cineplex Magazine, CAA Magazine, FIPRESCI.org, Mondo Magazine, Discover Toronto, The Weather Network and more.

Rachel is a member of the Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA) and the Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) and has served on several film festival juries including the Rising Sun International Film Festival in Japan, the Tallgrass Film Festival, Festival REGARD, and the ICFF Lavazza Inclucity Festival. She is an Associate Programmer at the Blue Mountain Film and Media Festival.

Victor Stiff

Senior Critic

Victor Stiff is a Toronto-based entertainment journalist and member of the Toronto Film Critics Association. He is the News Editor and Senior Critic at ThatShelf.com and host of UFO Movie Club on YouTube. Victor has contributed to the Canadian Academy, POV Magazine, Global News, The Playlist, Screen Rant, We Got This Covered, In the Seats, and Sordid Cinema. Victor received the TFCA’s 2019 Emerging Critic award and served as a jury member at the 49th Festival du nouveau cinéma. He’s currently a programmer for the Rendezvous With Madness Festival.

Courtney Small

Senior Critic

Courtney is a Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic and co-host of the radio show Frameline. He has written for several publications including POV Magazine, CBC Arts, Exclaim!, Cinema Axis, Leonard Maltin, In the Seats, Black Girl Nerds, and Comix Asylum. He also discusses diversity in cinema as host of the Changing Reels podcast and is a member of the Online Film Critics Society, GALECA, the African American Film Critics Association and is a Golden Globes international voter.

Bil Antoniou

Criterion Maestro

Bil Antoniou is a Toronto-based actor and playwright who co-hosts the podcast BGM: Bad Gay Movies/Bitchy Gay Men and his own personal memory project podcast My Criterions. The rest of the time, he's usually watching movies and blogging about them at MyOldAddiction.com.

Deirdre Crimmins

Senior Critic

Deirdre Crimmins is Chicago-based freelance film critic and a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. She contributes regularly to Rue Morgue magazine, previously she wrote for both High Def Digest and Birth.Movies.Death. Though a lifelong horror film fan, she also loves a good musical or screwball comedy when the mood strikes.

Mel Valentin

Senior Critic

Mel Valentin has been writing about his first and possibly his last love, film, for more than a decade. Born somewhere on the East Coast in the last century, Mel moved to the San Francisco Bay Area two decades ago. Mel spends his days looking forward to when we can all return to movie theaters and film festivals in person.

Sarah Gopaul

Featured Critic

Sarah Gopaul is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved critic and member of the Online Film Critics Society who was captivated by cinema the moment 12 Angry Men opened her pre-teen eyes to its power. Instead of stepping behind the camera, she found her voice through writing, honing her skills with degrees in Journalism and Film Studies to master the art of the critical take.

With nearly two decades of experience, previously serving as Editor-in-Chief of Popjournalism and Film Editor at Digital Journal, Sarah has a long history of sharing her insights on movies and home entertainment. Now a freelance critic, she's dedicated to telling you what's worth seeing (and what's not!).

Watching everything from blockbusters to indie gems, her true love is horror — a genre so dear to her heart that it launched her Funko Pop collection in 2015, culminating in her induction into the Funko Hall of Fame in 2022.

When she's not immersed in a dark theatre or spooky film, Sarah's probably rock climbing or braving the crowds at fan conventions like San Diego Comic-Con. You can find more of Sarah's writing and commentary on film, media and culture at her site, Imagery at the Movies.

Colin Biggs

Featured Critic

In addition to ThatShelf, Colin Biggs' bylines appear in Birth.Movies.Death, Little White Lies, Film School Rejects, ScreenCrush, and formerly at Movie Mezzanine. He is also a member of the Las Vegas Film Critics Society, and is more than likely in line for a movie right now.

Adam Schoales

Featured Critic

Adam Schoales is a Producer and Editor who has previously worked with the Toronto International Film Festival. He currently co-hosts and produces The Springfield Googolplex, the movie podcast for fans of The Simpsons where he looks back on films he and his co-host were first introduced to via The Simpsons. He has a remarkable recall of the series' quotations (which are mostly lost on his family) as well as a truly encyclopedic knowledge of useless movie trivia (which he’s glad to finally have an outlet for). He lives in Markham, Ontario.

André Kamehama

André Kamehama works in the film industry, specializing in graphic design, audience engagement, and marketing strategies for film releases. He has collaborated with major independent distributors, including Imovision, O2 Play, and Vitrine Filmes, designing key visuals, creating promotional materials, and assisting with campaigns for theatrical and streaming releases. His design work has supported films including Monster (Hirokazu Koreeda), Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven), and Megalopolis (Francis Ford Coppola). He is also deeply involved in the festival circuit, contributing to events such as TIFF, Hot Docs, Inside Out, Reel Asian Film Festival, Canadian Film Festival, LATAFF, MIFF, Pendance Film Festival, FOFS, and many more. His roles have included social media strategy, programming assistance, event coordination, coverage, and on-the-ground support as part of volunteer staff.

Lyle Kruger

Featured Critic/Social Media Producer

Lyle Kruger has been writing about film, media, and the spaces where art, people, and politics collide since his teenage years. A recent university graduate, he’s a passionate champion of under-the-radar films and the smaller festivals that give them life. Outside of writing, Lyle is a devoted Buffalo Bills fan and a lifelong music obsessive with an ever-growing playlist for every mood. Based in Toronto, he spends his days spending time with friends and family, writing, editing, watching movies, and quietly obsessing over lineups—whether on screen or on the field.

Will Perkins

Founder

Will Perkins is a film and game journalist and marketing professional based in Toronto, Ontario. He co-founded ThatShelf.com with Jeff Brown and Lucas Rizoli in 2009. He has contributed to such outlets as Yahoo Movies, Design Bureau, Kill Screen, Maxim and Steel Bananas – work that has afforded him the opportunity to interview some of the world’s most acclaimed filmmakers, actors, and game designers. Will is the former co-owner of Art of the Title.

Email - [email protected]