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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 Noé, Rachel Brosnahan, Amy 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.

Ep87: THE LAZARUS Defect w/ Adam Fendelman!

On tap this week is David Gelb's fifth-place shock-flop, The Lazarus Effect! No one's excited about this movie, but that won't stand in the way of a thrilling conversation. The great and gracious Adam Fendelman of HollywoodChicago.com joins Ian to talk about mainstream horror's decline, unexpectedly effective fright flicks, and the possible motives of genre filmmaking's greatest off-screen villain!

Also, Ian makes the year's worst J.J. Abrams joke, plugs the last few hours of Kicking the Seat's "Me Am LEGO Bizarro" Contest, and teases the third-annual Chicago Critics Film Festival. It's downright scary how much we can cram into Episode 87's brisk fifty-five minutes!

And don't forget to like, love, subscribe, and share Kicking the Seat on Twitter, Facebook, and iTunes!

Ep88: Chippy

Ep86: Statuesque