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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.

Ep225: Say No More, Xenomorph

Today, the Kicking the Seat Podcast investigates a suspicious beacon and discovers the spaceship-sized warning known as Alien: Covenant! Ian and Keeping it Reel's David Fowlie spoil the eggs rotten with a detailed look at why Ridley Scott's Prometheus sequel falls short. Also, Ian offers an armchair analysis of how Neill Blomkamp's scuttled Alien sequel holds up a dark mirror to our modern political landscape.

Episode 225 makes dumb decisions left and right, but critics still love us!

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Ep226: My Kinda Film Festival

Ep224: Because I Could Not Stop for Dickinson