The first thing I noticed were the boots. In the utopian future of Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, everyone wears spongy, Duplo-block boots to match their spongy, crayon-colored outfits. That's great for a costume designer's sketchbook, but why would anyone in the reality of Peter Hewitt's misbegotten sequel make their carefree lives so difficult to navigate? That footwear is key to understanding Bill & Ted's downfall--not the one orchestrated by a grumpy revolutionary who sends cyborg doppelgangers back in time to assassinate the dim-witted rock-gods-in-training. No, our heroes are undone by Xeroxed script beats, a mandate to dial up the obnoxiousness, and a production best described as "cash-infused aesthetic overkill". Ironically, the only life in this film is Death (William Sadler), who never quite shakes a humiliating board-game-tournament defeat. I can see why the original title, Bill & Ted Go to Hell, got nixed: too on the nose.
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.