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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.

Ep223: Malick Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Today, the Kicking the Seat Podcast celebrates a full year of weekly shows with a long-promised look at Terence Malick's Badlands! The show comes full circle as Pat "The Über Critic" McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com joins Ian to talk about a movie that had been a cinematic blind-spot for both of them, and which offers a mind-expanding perspective on a filmmaker they'd taken issue with on some level. The guys also dig into the true-crime roots of Malick's story (thanks to Criterion's gorgeous, extras-packed Blu-ray), and tiptoe into the film's spiritual underpinnings.

Also, Ian talks about what reaching the consistent 52-week mark (with 93+ episodes!) means to him, and urges listeners once again to head to the Music Box Theatre this weekend for the fifth Chicago Critics Film Festival! Need more convincing? Check out festival co-founder and Chicago Film Critics Association board member Erik Childress's interview with Richard Roeper on Fox 32!

Episode 223 is an installment of true romance--a bona fide love affair between host, audience, and their art form of choice!

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Ep224: Because I Could Not Stop for Dickinson

Ep222: Why So SERIAL?