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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.

FRIDAY THE 40TH Part 6: Jason Has Risen

FRIDAY THE 40TH Part 6: Jason Has Risen

Ian Simmons

He's back! Jason Voorhees has survived drowning, hanging, and machete attacks, but Paramount Pictures was sure that A New Beginning's poor fan reception would finally lay the Crystal Lake killer to rest.

Luckily, writer/director John McLoughlin gleefully accepted the challenge of resurrecting this waning franchise--infusing Jason Lives with Gothic horror elements, comedy, and a mythology that transformed Jason from 'roided-up woodland creature into a supernatural freight train with murder on his maggoty mind.

In this month's spoilerific analysis, Ian and Lee Shoquist of ChicagoFilm break from their harmonious love of the previous Friday entries to break down why some fans adore Part VI, while others find it an even more problematic departure for the series than that time they swapped out Jason for a psychotic ambulance driver.

Also, the guys stand up for horror as a genre, and call some critics to task for dismissing it in favor of so-called "legitimate" fare!

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DA 5 BLOODS (Spoiler) Round Table Review

DA 5 BLOODS (Spoiler) Round Table Review
Hottest Day of the Year: DO THE RIGHT THING Review

Hottest Day of the Year: DO THE RIGHT THING Review