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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.

Ep449: Nothing Gold Can Stay

Today, the Kicking the Seat Podcast and Keeping it Reel's David Fowlie discuss one of the year's worst-reviewed prestige films, The Goldfinch! John Crowley's adaptation of Donna Tartt's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is getting savaged by the press, but you're about to hear a vigorous defense of the terrorism-aftermath drama (by one of these critics, anyway).

Also, Ian talks about a few upcoming events at the Music Box Theatre, including tonight's Q&A with the filmmakers behind Give Me Liberty; Monday's one-night engagement of American Dreamer (featuring a Q&A with star Jim Gaffigan and director Derrick Borte); and the Chicago premiere of the Mexican dark fantasy, Tigers Are Not Afraid. As a bonus, Ian shares an interview he did last month with Tigers writer/director Issa López!

Episode 449 isn't superstitious at all!

Show Guide:

Intro Music: 0:00 - 0:14

Intro: 0:14 - 3:40

Issa López Interview (Tigers Are Not Afraid): 3:40 - 18:25

Intro Ct'd: 18:25 - 19:06

The Goldfinch Trailer: 19:06 - 21:23

The Goldfinch Discussion: 21:23 - 1:30:22

Outro Music: 1:30:22 - 1:30:38

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Ep450: Phantoms and Fragility

Ep448: Hammerland: A Brief Tour