Kicking the Seat Ian Simmons

It's a classic case of head versus heart as Ian and David take on The Old Oak!The guys have very different takes on the (purported) final film by esteemed director Ken Loach, in which a young Syrian refugee named Yara (Ebla Mari) and her family move into an impoverished Northern England former mining town in 2016. Yara befriends TJ (Dave Turner), the owner of the titular pub, who is caught between loyalty to his xenophobic friends/patrons and the instinct to look out for these new, well-meaning strangers.In this spoilerific discussion, Ian and David dig into Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty's effective use of acting, aesthetics, and mood in crafting their sympathetic, pro-immigrant "message movie"--one that paints all attendant concerns about numbers, culture, and economics as strictly the domain of alcoholic racist idiots.Is this, as the filmmakers likely thought of it, "the movie we need right now"? Or is it a polemic disguised as a (very well executed) slice-of-life drama?Pull up a stool, pour yourself a drink, and find out!Subscribe, like, and comment to the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel, and check out kickseat.com for multiple movie podcasts each week!Show LinksWatch the Old Oak trailer.As mentioned in the show, The 11th Chicago Critics Film Festival kicks off this Friday (May 3rd) at the Music Box Theatre. Get your festival passes and tickets now!Follow David Fowlie's film criticism at Keeping It Reel.

This was supposed to be a review of Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon Part 2: The Scargiver.But as you'll soon see, Ian and Armond won't be able to talk about the movie until the end of summer (even though it was allegedly released on Netflix a couple weeks ago). Herein is a fiery look at the creative gray area of "The Director's Cut", where art, commerce, and technology form an uneasy (possibly unholy) alliance against which the movies have little defense. PLUS: A take on Peter Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy you won't find anywhere else!Subscribe, like, and comment to the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel, and check out kickseat.com for multiple movie podcasts each week!Show LinksWatch the Rebel Moon Part 2: The Scargiver trailer.Read Armond's Rebel Moon Part 2 editorial at The National Review (the inspiration for this discussion).Read Armond's Rebel Moon Part 1 review at The National Review.Watch Ian and Armond's Rebel Moon Part 1 review.Watch writer/director Zack Snyder's recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience (which inspired the article that inspired this episode!).Read Armond's latest piece for the National Review, regarding Oliver Stone's Salvador (mentioned in the show).Can't get enough Armond White? Check out our "Movies with Armond" Playlist!Order the book that inspired these regular movie chats: Armond's Make Spielberg Great Again.

On their Return to Hammerland, Ian and AC pick up fellow traveler Bill Gudmundson for an out-of-this-world review of 1957's Quatermass 2!Professor Bernard Quatermass (Brian Donleavy) has spent years working on a moon colonization project--only to have it scrapped by the government. In a bizarre twist, he discovers that alien invaders have secretly built a fully operational version of his moon base in the desert! Can he crack a high-level conspiracy and save the world from enemies who can manipulate minds to sinister ends?Eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed that we've covered the first and third movies of this sci-fi trilogy (based on Nigel Kneale's books) in our previous Hammerland series, but never its middle installment. In this episode, you'll find out why!Note: Late in the episode, AC mistakenly refers to Andre Morell, when he meant to say “Andrew Keir”.Subscribe, like, and comment to the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel, and check out kickseat.com for multiple movie podcasts each week!Show LinksWatch the Quatermass 2 (1957) trailer.Check out Bill Gudmundson's amazing monster sculptures at Bill's Kitchen! Speaking of monsters...Chicagoans! Get your tickets now for the Music Box Theatre's June event, “Godzilla Versus Music Box” (featuring Godzilla Minus One and the entire Showa Era-Godzilla filmography)!Get educated with AC's frightfully enlightening film criticism at Horror 101 with Dr. AC.Order AC's books on essential and obscure horror movies, Horror 101 and Hidden Horror!Subscribe to AC's YouTube channel, Horror 101 with Dr. AC.It’s not too late to catch up with our 2023 trip “Beyond Hammerland”!Check out 2022's year-long journey, "Son of Hammerland"!And watch the series that started it all: "Hammerland"!

Just when Earth's Mightiest Critics thought they'd seen it all, here comes the we-kidnapped-a-ballerina-vampire movie, Abigail!Six mercenaries are contracted to kidnap the daughter of a crime kingpin. But when these strangers have to spend 24 hours in a safehouse with their new charge, they quickly discover that sweet little Abigail is not what she seems.Yes, it's "Reservoir Dogs with vampires". But is the latest film from co-directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Ready or Not, Scream VI) a much-needed transfusion of disparate genres, or an anemic waste of a bloody-good concept?Join us as we drain every last bit of analysis from this splatterific twist on the heist-hideout flick--and and take your questions, comments, and SuperChats!Subscribe, like, and comment to the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel, and check out kickseat.com for multiple movie podcasts each week!Show Links Watch the Abigail trailer.Support all of Earth's Mightiest Critics at their various outlets:Check out Mark "The Movie Man" Krawczyk's The Spoiler Room Podcast.Keep up with Jeff York's criticism and caricatures at The Establishing Shot.Get seated with The Blonde in Front!Follow David Fowlie's film criticism at Keeping It Reel.Get educated with Don Shanahan at Every Movie Has a Lesson…...And Film Obsessive...and the Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast.Make Nice with Mike Crowley of You'll Probably Agree.Keep up with Annie Banks at Chuck Load of Comics....and MoviewebAnd stir things up with Will Johnson of the Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast.

Ian and Pat are looking at a new movie, for a change, but there's no reason that Hard Miles couldn't become a classic!R.J. Daniel Hanna's latest film stars Matthew Modine as Greg Townsend, a real-life Colorado teacher and cycling enthusiast who created a program in which he takes troubled youth on character-building bike rides to the Grand Canyon.In this spoiler-free review, the guys talk about how this surprising, gorgeously shot, and genuinely uplifting film demands to be seen on the big screen, and how it speaks to a forgotten voice in mainstream Hollywood movies. They also recommend other recent examples of uplifting "Based on a True Story" films that may have flown under your radar.Hard Miles is now playing in theatres nationwide.Subscribe, like, and comment to the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel, and check out kickseat.com for multiple movie podcasts each week!Show LinksWatch the Hard Miles trailer.Bonus! Listen to Pat's interviews with Hard Miles co-writer/director R.J. Daniel Hanna and star Matthew Modine for HollywoodChicago.com!Listen to Pat's movie reviews on the radio at STAR 96.7.Can't get enough of Ian and Pat? Check out their regular retro repartee in our "There's No Stalgia Like Nostalgia" Playlist!

Earth's Mightiest Critics hop off the fence to engage with Civil War!Alex Garland's latest look into mankind's cracked crystal ball features Kyrstin Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, and Stephen McKinley Henderson as four journalists trekking across a combat-ravaged America on a quest to interview a dictatorial 3rd-term President (played by Nick Offerman).Writer/director Garland has said his film doesn't take sides, and leaves it up to the viewer to interpret Civil War's true political implications. Is that true--or just more Hollywood spin? And does the combination of hard-hitting drama and pulse-pounding action make ideology (or the supposed lack thereof) irrelevant?Join us as we dig into the firepower, politics, and prescience of Alex Garland's latest dystopian drama--and take your questions, comments, and SuperChats!Subscribe, like, and comment to the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel, and check out kickseat.com for multiple movie podcasts each week!Show LinksWatch the Civil War trailer.Support all of Earth's Mightiest Critics at their various outlets:Check out Mark "The Movie Man" Krawczyk's The Spoiler Room Podcast.Keep up with Jeff York's criticism and caricatures at The Establishing Shot.Get seated with The Blonde in Front!Follow David Fowlie's film criticism at Keeping It Reel.Get educated with Don Shanahan at Every Movie Has a Lesson…...And Film Obsessive...and the Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast.Make Nice with Mike Crowley of You'll Probably Agree.Keep up with Annie Banks at Chuck Load of Comics....and MoviewebAnd stir things up with Will Johnson of the Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast.