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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 NoéRachel BrosnahanAmy 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.

Toni Erdmann (2016)

To paraphrase the late, great Jim Croce, you don’t stand on Superman’s cape; you don’t spit into the wind; you don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger, and you don’t remake Toni Erdmann. Yet, buried in this week of poorly educated decisions comes a cinematic whopper of DeVos proportions: Jack Nicholson and Kristen Wiig will star in an American version of Maren Ade’s inimitable German dramedy about a kooky dad so desperate to connect with his corporate-climbing daughter that he infiltrates her world with an alternate personality. The writer/director deftly redefines genre in real-time by flushing every narrative rule and giving the audience room to breathe—and think for themselves. Plus, thanks to fearless, tragicomic performances by Peter Simonischek and Sandra Hüller, any actor who dares bring even the loftiest pedigree to either part faces instant neutering. Some roles simply can’t be messed with. Just ask Jackie Earle Haley.

Listen to Kicking the Seat Podcast #190 for more Toni Erdmann love with Ian and HollywoodChicago.com's Patrick "The Über Critic" McDonald!

The Lego Batman Movie (2017)

John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)