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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.

Ep243: Alien Overcoat

Today, Ian blasts off with RogerEbert.com's Peter Sobczynski for an in-depth exploration of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets! How does writer/director Luc Besson's lifelong passion project fare in the translation from cult comic book to big-screen blockbuster? Could this earnest, space-hopping sci-fi adventure capture audiences' imaginations--or is it destined for obscurity and eventual re-discovery? This discussion covers several aspects of a film that is at once extraordinary, exhausting, and existential in its ambitions.

Also, Ian urges listeners to pick up the graphic novels on which Valerian is based, and suggests an unconventional double-feature this weekend.

Episode 243 is a podcast of a thousand ideas (and some of them are actually good!).

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Ep244: Kennel of Truth

Ep242: War All the Time