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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.

Ep1184: Eternity (2025) - Movie Review

Ep1184: Eternity (2025) - Movie Review

Who says Awards Season has to be a dreary time at the movies, full of biopics and downer dramas? A24 has just the antidote to the perennial prestige pity pictures: David Freyne's new romantic comedy, Eternity!

In this film's version of the afterlife, recently departed souls have one week to decide which themed paradise they want to spend eternity in. Turns out Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) has another tough choice to make: which of her dead husbands does she pick to be her forever partner? Larry (Miles Teller) was her husband and father to her children for 65 years. But her first spouse, Luke (Callum Turner), a dreamy military man who died in the Korean War, has waited decades to be reunited with her.

If this bizarre premise (which also includes afterlife advocates and a special hallway where the dead can look in on their previous lives) sounds familiar, it should: Eternity is a thruple version of Albert Brooks' 1991 film, Defending Your Life.

For guest host Cati Glidewell, this is a welcome update of an all-time-great comedy. For Ian, it's a shabby and insulting imitation. And in this episode, these intrepid critics will dig into Eternity in spoilerific detail to determine whether it will stand the test of time...or be banished to the purgatory of half-baked movie ideas!

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Ep1187: Trailer Reaction: Supergirl (2026 Teaser)

Ep1187: Trailer Reaction: Supergirl (2026 Teaser)

Ep1183: Train Dreams (2025) - Live Roundtable Review

Ep1183: Train Dreams (2025) - Live Roundtable Review