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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.

Wonder Woman (2017)

By now, it’s cliché to declare Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman the best of DC’s so-called “Extended Universe” films, which began with Man of Steel and nearly killed itself with Suicide Squad. But here’s a little-discussed capper to that sentiment: Wonder Woman is just a mediocre comic-book movie. Don’t worry, this is neither a tirade against recently publicized women-only screenings of the film, nor sour grapes from a Marvel fanatic. I expected more from the director of Monster than a gender-swapped, near-literal retread of Captain America: The First Avenger. Between the cyanide-chomping assassins, bargain-bin Howling Commandos, and a guy named Steve bravely flying a plane packed with world-ending cargo over the Atlantic, the cribbing in this picture is as omnipresent as its overcast vistas. Yes, compared to Wonder Woman's messy, mean-spirited predecessors, this iteration is practically the model of competence. Next time, it would be nice if someone strived for excellence.

Listen to Kicking the Seat Podcast #227 to for a super-powered discussion of Wonder Woman with Ian, David Fowlie's Keeping it Reel, Every Movie Has a Lesson's Don Shanahan, and Emmanuel Noisette of EMan's Movie Reviews!

Middle Man (2017)

Alien: Covenant (2017)