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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.

Insert Coffee Pun Here

Insert Coffee Pun Here

Ian and Don Shanahan of Every Movie Has a Lesson tackle Netflix's latest action/comedy, Coffee & Kareem! Ed Helms stars as a bumbling Detroit cop who teams up with his would-be stepson (Terrence Little Gardenhigh) to foil a drug ring and protect the woman they love (Taraji P. Henson).

How does this action homage stack up to the movies that inspired it, like Beverly Hills Cop and Die Hard? Where's the line between precocious-child-actor-playing-into-very-adult-themes versus intervention-worthy concern? And why is Betty Gilpin just the best?

The guys attempt to answer these questions and more in this lively, spoilerific coffee talk!

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Never Break The Chain

Never Break The Chain

RE-ANIMATOR, Revisited

RE-ANIMATOR, Revisited