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Welcome to Kicking the Seat!

Ian Simmons launched Kicking the Seat in 2009, one week after seeing Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia. His wife proposed blogging as a healthier outlet for his anger than red-faced, twenty-minute tirades (Ian is no longer allowed to drive home from the movies).

The Kicking the Seat Podcast followed three years later and, despite its “undiscovered gem” status, Ian thoroughly enjoys hosting film critic discussions, creating themed shows, and interviewing such luminaries as Gaspar NoéRachel BrosnahanAmy Seimetz, and Richard Dreyfuss.

Ian is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. He also has a family, a day job, and conflicted feelings about referring to himself in the third person.

The KtS Contest: 500 Films!

UPDATE: This contest has ended. Congratulations to Sarah Rugg! Look for a review of Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl later this week, and your KtS Care Package soon after! Thanks, everyone, for entering!

Yes, it's been nearly three years since I began kicking seats, and this site has 490 reviews to show for it.*

To celebrate, I'm here to announce The 500 Films Contest!

The rules are simple:

In the "Comments" section below, tell me which movie I should critique for the big five-dash-oh-dash-oh. The movie must be available in the following formats:

  • Netflix Streaming or Amazon Instant Streaming
  • DVD rental
  • Theatrical wide-release feature on the weekend of July 20th** 

If your pick is hard to find or out-of-print, you're out of luck.

Feel free to recommend a good movie, a great movie, or a movie so terrible that I'll question whether or not you actually like me, or are, in fact, part of some sick revenge plot devised by a jilted high school girlfriend.

(Oh, and one movie per comment, please. Lists are messy and will be DQ'd PDQ.)

At 11:59pm on Friday, July 20th, I'll choose a winner at my discretion and post a review of that film shortly thereafter. In addition to bragging rights, the winning entrant will receive a KtS care package containing a hodge-podge of movie-related goodies--some of which have been scribbled on by famous people.

So, sharpen those brain-pencils, kids! Let's make film five-hundred a doozy!

*A handful of older reviews pre-date the KtS launch, appearing as a supplement to my defunct art blog.

**Limited-release films are okay, as long as they're playing in Chicago.

The KtS Contest: The Depps of My Despair

The KtS Contest: ROCKIN' THE JOURNEY!