Last week, visit #151 extended the honor and brought another bold adaptation of a literary classic to the roundtable. This time, it was Emerald Fennell’s spicy take on Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights.” Enjoy the divisive back and forth between Ian, myself, Cati Glidewell of The Blonde in Front, Mike Crowley of You’ll Probably Agree, and Jeff York of The Establishing Shot and Pipeline Artists.
Read MoreThere have been too many Dracula movies. In fact, there have been over 200. Personally, I think they’ve been tough acts to follow since Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1992. Coming from Frenchman Luc Besson, 2026 brings the closest—and most romance-forward—Dracula since Coppols. Join Ian Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel hosting myself and Cati Glidewell of The Blonde in Front to talk all about Caleb Landry Jones and company in Dracula.
Read MoreContinuing to plod through “awards season,” Ian Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel circled Bradley Cooper’s newest directorial effort, Is This Thing On?. The dramedy follows a separated married couple played by Will Arnett and Laura Dern as they find new outlets while single, including standup comedy.
Read MoreDiving into the physical media front, Ian Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel sought to cover Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1997 classic Boogie Nights. Several critics, including myself and Ian, received the new 4K-UHD disc edition of the film and took that opportunity to talk as cleanly as possible for YouTube censors, PTA’s ins-and-outs of the 1970s and 1980s porn scene of southern California.
Read MoreEvery week, Ian Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel is looking for something like that, and he sure found one this week, just in time for Christmas. The movie in question is the crowd-pleasing, toe-tapping, and heart-moving Song Sung Blue, the musical biopic—not of Neil Diamond—but of a Wisconsin-based Neil Diamond tribute band starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson.
Read MoreIan Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel was among the Chicago press who got the chance to see James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash multiple weeks early. Since he (and the rest of us for that matter) didn’t want to completely forget a completely forgettable movie, Ian assembled “Earth’s Mightiest Critics” to pre-record a “live” roundtable for the movie’s big release this weekend. Enjoy Ian, myself, Jeff York of The Establishing Shot, Mike Crowley of You’ll Probably Agree, and Cati Glidewell of The Blonde in Front talking about all things ashy and blue.
Read MoreIan Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel kept finding his movie spins on Netflix this month with the awards season in full swing. Following up Train Dreams, he stepped into the Hollywood-adoring spotlight of Jay Kelly, the comedy on aged stardom from Marriage Story director Noah Baumbach. Thanks to some critic perks, I have been lucky to chase a few of the stars of Jay Kelly at a Netflix press junket last month. I bring those tales and my own fandom to Ian’s channel.
Read MoreIan Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel recently took a spin on Netflix to watch one of its chief awards season contenders. He sat down for Train Dreams, starring Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, and William H. Macy. After seeing the film, he was intrigued by the 2011 source novella of the same name. I’ve veen lucky enough to read the book, so this was a good, comparative talk between myself, Ian, and Mike Crowley of You’ll Probably Agree.
Read MoreIan Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel has enjoyed this chances to review physical media releases alongside new theatrical releases and classics. He and I are on the press list for Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, which nets us some preview copies of many of their physical media offerings. For a new episode of Ian’s “Featured Extras” series, enjoy myself, Ian, and David Fowlie of Keeping It Reel appreciating the craftsmanship and speed of the Brad Pitt vehicle F1: The Movie.
Read MoreThe event featured fellow Canadian Ryan Reynolds holding court with a dais that included moderator Kevin McCarthy, Candy’s Chris, and special Chicago guest Jim Belushi. Ian Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel also attended and invited me, David Fowlie of Kicking the Seat, and Cati Glidewell on The Blonde in Front to talk about the excellent film.
Read MoreWhat could have been a morose, listless slog about a bitter whiner is energized into something of a soul-stirring seance in many layers and moments. If you’re taken away for 100 minutes to think about your life—what you’ve done and haven’t done—and what kind of man or person you want to be, one could do far worse than swoon to Gabriel Byrne and groove to Leonard Cohen.
Read MoreAfter a two-month siesta thanks to the rigors of the teacher day job, I found myself back on the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel hosted by Ian Simmons. The cinephile world was set ablaze at the end of September with much-ballyhooed release of Paul Thomas Anderson’s new multi-genre opus One Battle After Another. The film has been enjoying all the recency bias and proclamations that it’s the best film of the year and the titan to beat at the Oscars.
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