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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.

Ep939: There's No Stalgia Like Nostalgia: WESTWORLD (1973)

Ep939: There's No Stalgia Like Nostalgia: WESTWORLD (1973)

It's Halloween! Join Ian and Pat for a retro review of a movie about robots that dress up as humans and play cowboys and gladiators: Westworld!

Though Michael Cricthon's iconic and veeeeery influential sci-fi oddity turns fifty this year, neither Ian nor Pat had seen it until this week. In this spoilerific review, the guys marvel at the film's numerous tendrils, which spread out across the pop landscape in the decades that followed.

From The Terminator, to Halloween, to Hostel, to (of course) Jurassic Park and beyond, this futuristic tale of immersive-reality droids gone haywire could be seen as the birthplace of a dozen genre tropes--and that's far from a bad thing!

Subscribe, like, and comment to the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel, and check out kickseat.com for multiple movie podcasts each week!

Show Links

Ep940: Late Screening: KILL BILL VOLUME 1 (2003)

Ep940: Late Screening: KILL BILL VOLUME 1 (2003)

Ep938: Beyond Hammerland: THE BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW (1971)

Ep938: Beyond Hammerland: THE BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW (1971)