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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.

Ep233: Amirpour de Force / Ana Lily Amirpour Pt. 2

Today, the Kicking the Seat Podcast concludes its two-part look at the feature films of Ana Lily Amirpour...by talking to Ana Lily Amirpour! The writer/director of A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and The Bad Batch (whichopens today at Chicago's Music Box Theatre) sat down with Ian a couple weeks ago, mere hours before a controversial Q&A that became a minor social media kerfuffle.

Amirpour talks about powering through the transition from small indie to larger-scale filmmaking; adapting her work to comics; and the joys of hiding Easter Eggs in her movies for engaged audience members to crack open.

Also, Ian won't shut up about Wonder Woman, and invites listeners to skip the multiplex this weekend so some truly kick-ass female creators can share the box office love.

Episode 233 has been tattooed, exiled, and left to fend for itself!

Ep234: Wreck in Effects

Ep232: Two Films and a Controversy / Ana Lily Amirpour Pt. 1