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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.

Ep170: Sleep to Dream

For the second time in a week, Ian and David Fowlie of Keeping it Reel find themselves at the Golden Nugget, unpacking another brain-bending Amy Adams film! Hot off the heels of Arrival comes Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals, a meta-meta-meta narrative about love, loss, and literature that gave the guys several avenues to explore in their chat. Does Ford push too far in making his mainstream audience uncomfortable? Is Aaron Taylor Johnson terrific in this movie, or just distractingly precious? And who can we petition to put Michael Shannon in every film from now on?

The guys get into all this and more during a spoilerific hour that's about as off the rails as the film at hand. 

Also, Ian has a reminder about Raising Bertie, which debuts at Chicago's Gene Siskel Film Center tomorrow. Each of the opening weekend's evening screenings will include a Q&A with writer/director Margaret Byrne, producer Ian Robertson Kibbe, and editor Leslie Simmer. For tickets and more information, check out the Raising Bertie page at siskelcenter.org.

Lastly, there's some great news in store for friend of the show Aaron Christensen and his Shout! Factory TV pilot, Horror Hunters! Scream Factory (Shout!'s horror label) is seeking horror-memorabilia collectors for Aaron and co-host Adam Rockoff to visit on future episodes. If you, or someone you know, want to share their scary wares with the Horror Hunters, visit Scream Factory's Facebook page for more information!

Episode 170 is the podcast equivalent of a page-turner, so cancel your plans and dive right in!

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Ep171: Bleeding and Leading

Ep169: The Will of MANOS