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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 Noé, Rachel Brosnahan, Amy 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.

Ep713: Awfully Great: COOL AS ICE

Ep713: Awfully Great: COOL AS ICE

Ian Simmons

Ian and Mike don't believe in guilty pleasures, but they do appreciate "Awfully Great" movies!

Yes, it's time for another ongoing series, and we're kicking things off with a 30th-anniversary tribute to David Kellogg's magnum oh-yeah-pus, Cool as Ice! Robert Van Winkle stars as Johnny, a colorful space alien/superhero* who brings style and hip-hop culture to a hopelessly square rural town (which also shares a nexus point with vast expanses of desert). He meets a brilliant high school senior whose parents happen to be in the witness protection program, and helps the family defeat a pair of vengeful, crooked cops.

Yes, that's a real movie, and in the next 50 minutes, you'll hear heart defenses of this mash-up of Rebel Without a Cause and Say Anything--including the dazzling camerawork of Oscar-winning DP Janusz Kaminski; unironically strong performances by Kristin Minter and Michael Gross; and a story so brazen in its lack of give-a-shit that the film demands to be seen and placed on a boombox atop a pedestal!

*Ian's theory, not officially endorsed by Universal Pictures.

Show Links:

  • Watch the Cool as Ice trailer.

  • Chicagoans! Catch Vanilla Ice live in concert this Saturday at the Naperville Music Festival! (Note: Mike and Ian mistakenly said that The Village People are part of the lineup.)

  • Buy Kino Lorber's recently released Cool as Ice Blu-ray.

  • Keep up with Mike Crowley's reviews at You'll Probably Agree.

  • Subscribe to, like, and comment on the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel!

Ep714: Hammerland: DRACULA A.D. 1972

Ep714: Hammerland: DRACULA A.D. 1972
Ep712: Flight Risk: An Interview with THE STARLING Screenwriter Matt Harris

Ep712: Flight Risk: An Interview with THE STARLING Screenwriter Matt Harris