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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.

Ep730: WEST SIDE STORY (2021) w/ Armond White

Ep730: WEST SIDE STORY (2021) w/ Armond White

Ian Simmons

Ian welcomes back National Review film critic Armond White for a look at Steven Spielberg's West Side Story!

This remake of Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins' 1961 Oscar winner remains a period musical, but Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner have updated the Jets and Sharks' New York turf war with decidedly new-millennium politics.

While it's too early to tell whether or not the abysmal $10 million opening bodes ill for the film's long-term prospects, chances are this movie will wind up a footnote in the press surrounding this weekend's Spider-Man: Far From Home opening.

But it didn't have to be this way.

From bizarre dialogue to checkbox casting to a puzzling refusal to subtitle the film's numerous Spanish-language scenes, Armond and Ian look at the ways in which West Side Story's agenda undercuts genuinely dazzling artistry presented by a fully engaged yet deeply conflicted Spielberg.

Show Links:

Ep731: SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (2021) - Round Table Review

Ep731: SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (2021) - Round Table Review
Ep729: IndieSeen: NORTE: THE END OF HISTORY

Ep729: IndieSeen: NORTE: THE END OF HISTORY