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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.

Ep1201: Send Help (2026) - Live Roundtable Review

Ep1201: Send Help (2026) - Live Roundtable Review

Earth's Mightiest Critics are sending up smoke signals for Sam Raimi's latest horror/comedy, Send Help!

Rachel McAdams stars as Linda, a corporate executive-in-waiting who finds herself trapped on a desert island with a wounded Brad (Dylan O'Brien), who was recently appointed to the position she'd been promised. During the next several weeks, the duo alternates between teaming up and terrorizing each other, as diminishing hopes for escape reduce them to a savage, primal state.

Is this the second coming of Misery, or just gore-coated misandry?

Join us as we look at the good, the bad, and the truly ugly from the director of The Evil Dead and Drag Me to Hell!

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Ep1200: Mercy (2026) - Live Roundtable Review

Ep1200: Mercy (2026) - Live Roundtable Review