profile pic ian.jpg

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.

Ep1059: Nosferatu (2024) - Round Table Review

Ep1059: Nosferatu (2024) - Round Table Review

Listen to them! The Earth's Mightiest Critics of the night!

Yes, it's our last round table review of 2024, and we couldn't have picked a bloodier debate! Robert Eggers' Nosferatu is ostensibly a remake of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 masterpiece of silent cinema, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror–but it plays like another in a long (long, long, looooong, long long) line of Dracula remakes.

The question is: can solid acting, atmosphere, and impressive practical effects buoy a two-plus-hour movie whose every beat was telegraphed 127 years ago?

Pop some popcorn (or chill some O negative) and watch as we slash, bite, and howl our way through this divisive horror film!

Plus: Learn about divine intervention’s role in keeping Ian from watching Eggers’ movies up until now; learn about the complicated history between Murnau’s film and the Bram Stoker estate (who owned the Dracula novel’s rights); and place your bets on the winner of our sub-debate, “Who Gave Nosferatu's Worst Performance (and Who's to Blame for it)”!

Subscribe, like, and comment on Kicking the Seat here on YouTube, and check us out at:

Show Links

  • Watch the Nosferatu (2024) trailer.

Ep1060: Outside the Cathouse, Inside the Arthouse: An Interview with Actor/Filmmaker Raphael Sbarge!

Ep1060: Outside the Cathouse, Inside the Arthouse: An Interview with Actor/Filmmaker Raphael Sbarge!

Ep1058: A Complete Unknown (2024) - Movie Review

Ep1058: A Complete Unknown (2024) - Movie Review