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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.

Work Sucks!

A Week of Films Celebrating the Hours Between 9am and 5pm

Is it bad taste to devote a week of reviews to the wretchedness of day-jobs when millions of Americans are drowning in a broken economy of rampant joblessness?  Sure.  So let's jump right in!

Look, I know times are tough, but it's not like the employed are jumping for joy at their outrageous fortunes and daily feelings of spiritual fulfillment.  For a lot of people, work just plain sucks.  Thankfully, we have our dear friends, the movies, to pull us out of the doldrums.

So please join me for a look at four films that capture the heartache, triumph and explosive passions of the Great American Worker Bee: Office Space, The Big Kahuna, Clerks 2, and, um...Die Hard (it'll make sense later; I hope).

As always, thanks for reading!

The Lack-of-Updates Update

Kicking the Habit