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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.

Ep288: MOM AND DAD, Why are You Fighting?

Today, the Kicking the Seat Podcast and Keeping it Reel's David Fowlie return with another dangerous double-feature! First up is the darkly funny neo-noir, Small Town Crime, starring John Hawkes, which the guys whole-heartedly agree on. Things take a turn for the weird with the new Nicolas Cage horror movie, Mom and Dad, in which a bizarre mania compels parents all over America to murder their children. The film straddles the line between tasteless and entertaining--and only one of our intrepid critics has the stomach for it! 

Also, Ian talks about some gargantuan goings-on at Chicago's Gene Siskel Film Center, including a limited run of My Friend Dahmer; next weekend's premiere of the gripping culinary doc, 42 Grams (with director Jack C. Newell in attendance!); and a very special series of Mercury in Retrograde screenings coming your way in late February, with Q&A's moderated by David Fowlie, Matt Fagerholm of RogerEbert.com, and Ian!

Episode 288 loves you to death!

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Ep289: The Shape of Whatever

Ep287: A Very Particular Set of Ills