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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.

Ep318: Crowbocop

Today, the Kicking the Seat Podcast and Keeping it Reel's David Fowlieseek digital justice with their look at writer/director Leigh Whannell's new ultra-violent black-comedy techno-thriller, Upgrade! What happens when a Luddite auto mechanic loses his wife and the use of his limbs in a tragic car accident--only to be given the chance to enact revenge against the criminal conspiracy behind said accident, thanks to an ass-kicking cybernetic enhancement? Well, you get one of the summer's weirdest, darkest, would-be blockbusters, and a film that Ian and David struggle to agree on.

Speaking of enhancements, you'll also get to hear Ian's interview with Whannell about Upgrade's origins, themes, and budget-stretching special effects magic!

Lastly, Ian talks about another techno-fueled action film, 1989's Cyborg--which is now available in an extras-packed Special Edition Blu-ray from Shout! Factory. Have the years been kind to this Jean-Claude Van Damme futuristic-wasteland flick? Or is the new Shout! edition more special than the movie itself?

Episode 318 says, "Snitches get glitches!"

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Ep319: Dark Knight of the Solstice: BATMAN BEGINS

Ep317: Late Screening: The CITIZEN KANE of Podcasts