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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.

Ep797: FUNNY PAGES (2022) - Movie Review

Ep797: FUNNY PAGES (2022) - Movie Review

Ian Simmons

Ian and David reminisce about the odd, audacious indie scene of the 90s with a look at Owen Kline's Funny Pages!

This biting black comedy stars Daniel Zolghadri as Robert, a teenage artist who drops out of high school to pursue a career in comics. While temping for a public defender, Daniel meets Wallace (Matthew Maher), a former color separator for Image Comics who wants nothing to do with the awkward, starry-eyed kid asking him for pointers.

In this spoiler-lite conversation, the guys indulge their inner (and, frankly, outer) comics geeks while heaping praise on this hard-to-watch gem, which feels plucked straight out of the pre-millennial arthouse scene--or the grotesquely liberating autobiographical comix of underground pioneers like R. Crumb and Harvey Pekar.

Funny Pages is now playing in select theatres and is available On Demand.

Show Links:

Ep798: Page2Screen: STARSHIP TROOPERS

Ep798: Page2Screen: STARSHIP TROOPERS
Ep796: DOG SOLDIERS (2002) - 20th Anniversary Review

Ep796: DOG SOLDIERS (2002) - 20th Anniversary Review