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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.

Ep321: Alden Times

Today, the Kicking the Seat Podcast and David Fowlie of Keeping it Reel talk about Alexandre Moors' The Yellow Birds, which opens in ultra-limited release this Friday. The Iraq War drama stars Alden Ehrenreich and Tye Sheridan as soldiers whose involvement in an overseas incident leads to a soul-shattering mystery back home.

The film is a puzzlement to Ian and David. Why is a beautifully shot film with across-the-board-excellent performances (including supporting turns from Toni Collette, Jennifer Aniston, and Jack Huston) and an engrossing PTSD story being dismissed by critics and buried in the single-theatre wasteland? This show might not contain all the answers, but the guys provide a hearty defense of this gritty, if uneven, entry in a well-tread sub-genre.

Episode 321 didn't come back the same!

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Ep322: Incredibility Gap

Ep320: 23 and Meh