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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.

Ep285: Double Letter, Zero Sum

Today, the Kicking the Seat Podcast and Keeping it Reel's David Fowlie fill in the blanks of Saban Films' latest puzzlement, Hangman! The studio formerly best known for introducing us to the Power Rangers has had quite the year, delivering almost-direct-to-video "thrillers" and "comedies" featuring marquee stars. Hangman stars Al Pacino, Karl Urban, and Brittany Snow in a murder mystery whose gimmick centers on one of childhood's most deceptively innocuous games.

The guys dig into what works, and spend the remaining forty or so minutes dissecting what doesn't. Also, Ian invites you to subscribe to the Chicago Film News YouTube channel, so you can be the first to see his guest appearance on the upcoming year-end holiday show (in which he and host Sarah Robinson discuss Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Princess Cyd)!

Episode 285 can't take much more of this!

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Ep286: Indiana, Not Ohio

Ep284: The All-Pervert Edition