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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.

Ep854: The JESUS REVOLUTION Will Not Be Politicized (Filmmaker Interview)

Ep854: The JESUS REVOLUTION Will Not Be Politicized (Filmmaker Interview)

Ian Simmons

Ian talks with the filmmakers behind the new movie, Jesus Revolution!

In the late 1960s, a hippie preacher named Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie) teamed up with struggling Conservative pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer) to form a new spiritual movement that captured the hearts of a wayward generation. Caught up in the excitement was Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney), a teen looking for answers that neither the buttoned-up class nor the hair-hang-down crowd could provide.

In this (very) brief interview, Ian asks co-directors Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle, and producer Kevin Downes, about why this story is relevant more than fifty years on--and how McCorkle balanced his duties as co-director and composer.

Jesus Revolution is now playing in theatres, courtesy of Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company.

Show Links:

  • Watch the Jesus Revolution trailer.

  • Watch Ian's 2021 interview with co-directors Jon and Andrew Erwin for The Jesus Music (which acts as a springboard for Jesus Revolution).

  • Watch Ian's 2021 interview with producer Kevin Downes for American Underdog.

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

Ep855: There's No Stalgia Like Nostalgia: CABIN IN THE SKY (1943)

Ep855: There's No Stalgia Like Nostalgia: CABIN IN THE SKY (1943)
Ep853: Beyond Hammerland: VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (1960)

Ep853: Beyond Hammerland: VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (1960)