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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.

Ep284: The All-Pervert Edition

Today, the Kicking the Seat Podcast and HollywoodChicago.com's Pat “The Über Critic” McDonald bid adieu to respectability with glowing looks at the latest films from Woody Allen and Louis C.K. That's right, we're talking Wonder Wheel and the likely-to-never-be-seen I Love You, Daddy!

No other year has been so key in the debate over separating art from artist as 2017, and the guys tackle the hard-hitting meta-narratives at play in both Allen's 1950s Coney Island crime drama and C.K.'s homage to Allen's Manhattan (complete with questionable May/December romance and musings on class, creativity, and commerce). Also up for discussion are the filmmakers' alleged sexual improprieties and what role they play in evaluating their art, as well as a critique of critics whose soapboxing may muddy their analysis. 

Episode 284 finds a lot to love in the movies everyone hates!

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Ep285: Double Letter, Zero Sum

Ep283: The Power (and Peril) of Myth