2024's most divisive film is finally here, and you can join Earth's Mightiest Critics on a wild & wacky journey to Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis!

The city of New Rome is the main conflict between Cesar Catilina, a brilliant artist in favor of a utopian future, and the greedy mayor Franklyn Cicero. Between them is Julia Cicero, her loyalty divided between her father and her beloved.

We'd like to say that this synopsis only makes sense if you've seen the movie--but that's probably not even true!

Join us as we investigate the inscrutable 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 Megalopolis (2024) trailer.

• Support all of Earth's Mightiest Critics at their various outlets:

  • Check out Mark "The Movie Man" Krawczyk's The Spoiler Room Podcast.

  • Explore the world of true indie cinema with Sujewa Ekanayake!

  • 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.

  • Keep up with Annie Banks at The Mary Sue.

    • ...and We Got This Covered.

  • Make Nice with Mike Crowley of You'll Probably Agree.

  • And stir things up with Will Johnson of the Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast.

Ian and Sujewa get deja vu with Hong Sang-soo with their double-feature IndieSeen review of In Front of Your Face and The Novelist’s Film!

The guys had initially planned to only discuss one of the movies, but while doing some extra homework, Ian discovered that the prolific South Korean auteur had essentially made the same movie twice, within one year of each other. Hence, this bizarre journey into truly independent (and highly improvised) cinema. Both films share a high-level plot about an artist (one a retired actress, one a novelist) visiting old acquaintances and, through happenstance, getting entrenched in making a movie.

Lee Hye-yeong stars in both films as the respective actress/novelist, and manages to pull off two very compelling and distinct performances. But is she underserved by a script that feels more like a list of prompts rather than the grand human-condition dramas they're billed as?

In this spoilerific discussion, the guys talk about the dangers of loosey-goosey screenwriting; actor versatility; and why it's perfectly reasonable to not trust film critics (except for Ian, of course!).

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 In Front of Your Face trailer.

• Watch the Novelist’s Film trailer.

• Watch Sujewa's latest film, Cosmic Disco Detective Rene for free on YouTube!

• Rent The Secret Society for Slow Romance (the predecessor to Cosmic Disco Detective Rene).

• Keep up with all of Sujewa's projects.

• Follow Sujewa on X.

Against all better judgment, David refuses to give up on Ian!

Yes, the guys are back to review another new movie that the persistent and persuasive Mr. Fowlie hopes will make a believer out of our resident sourpuss.

Unfortunately, the film at hand is the latest Netflix actioner, Rebel Ridge! Aaron Pierre stars as a stoic martial arts badass whose bike trip through Redneckville becomes a week-long gauntlet of extortion, corruption, revenge, and more tough-guy glowering than a thousand furrowed brows.

It's not surprising that Ian didn't respond to this one; what is shocking is that Rebel Ridge was directed by one of his favorite filmmakers, Jeremy Saulnier Blue Ruin, Green Room). The new movie represents a departure for the indie visionary, whose blood-drenched, off-the-wall crime operas made him one of the new century's most exciting young voices. Comparatively squeaky clean in its presentation, Rebel Ridge is so lacking in Saulnier's hallmarks as to be more of a dare than a sensical film.

Watch as the guys talk Rambo, rural Internet, "factoid screenwriting", and the inherent magical properties of coconut water!

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 Rebel Ridge trailer.

• Follow David Fowlie's film criticism at Keeping It Reel.

• Plus! Listen to Ian and David's other recent (and very raucous) reviews of:

  • Duchess (2024)

  • The Old Oak (2024)

  • What Remains (2024)

• Plus! Plus! Listen to previous Kicking the Seat reviews of Jeremy Saulnier's movies!

  • Murder Party and Blue Ruin

  • Green Room and Hold the Dark

Ian and Armond close out their months-long coverage of Zack Snyder's Netflix saga, Rebel Moon!

The guys covered the "theatrical" versions of Parts One and Two earlier this year, and now they're back with a look at the recently released "Director's Cuts" of both--which, according to the director, offer a completely new experience of his off-brand space fantasy.

At nearly double the run-time, the question is, does "more" equal "better"? Or has Snyder torpedoed his would-be epic by over-stuffing it?

In this spoilerific review, Ian and Armond get downright scrappy, as one critic's opinion takes a drastic turn from only a few months ago--while the other's appreciation of Rebel Moon increased unexpectedly!

Plus: The guys talk about possible strategies for reviewing Part Three (should it ever materialize), and find themselves in fundamental disagreement about the nature of art and criticism!

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

Show Links

• Read Armond's reviews of the Rebel Moon Director's Cuts at The National Review:

  • Part One

  • Part Two

• Watch Ian and Armond's reviews of the Rebel Moon "Theatrical Cuts":

  • Part One

  • Part Two

• 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.

It's official: the movies have finally broken Ian!

His only way to cope? Why, launch a new series, of course!

"Here We Go Again!" kicks off this week when Earth's Mightiest Critics look at the latest Blumhouse genre offering, Speak No Evil--as well as the original Danish film of the same name, which came out a mere two years ago!

Both movies center on two very different married couples who, after meeting on vacation, decide to spend a weekend together in the countryside. One is a buttoned-up, politically correct pair of helicopter parents, while the other is so free-wheeling as to be downright freaky. Of course, something sinister is afoot, and the idyllic weekend soon devolves into a desperate fight to survive.

The question is, who did it best?

The EMC will break down the good, the bad, and the criminal of the Big Studio treatment of Christian Tafdrup's nuanced and unsettling nightmare of manners, which, for Ian, finally brings into focus Stephen King's distaste for Jack Nicholson's turn as Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of his novel, The Shining!

But is this crusty critic being too, well, critical? Find out as we enjoy a tongue-clippin', remake-rippin' good time! We also talk spoilers 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 Speak No Evil (2022) trailer.

• Watch the Speak No Evil (2024) 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.

  • Keep up with Annie Banks at The Mary Sue.

    • ...and We Got This Covered.

  • Make Nice with Mike Crowley of You'll Probably Agree.

  • And stir things up with Will Johnson of the Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast.

If you say "legacy sequel" three times, will it make the new Beetlejuice movie worth talking about?

Earth's Mightiest Critics are about to find out, as they take on Tim Burton's latest return to the lead-water well.

When the Deetz family returns to their haunted house in Winter River, they once again summon the libidinously chaotic "Ghost with the Most" to disastrous effect. But is there enough life left in these oddball characters and off-kilter scenarios to warrant a longer film than the original--or is this just more nostalgia bait with a striped sandworm on the hook?

Join us for a weirdo-conjurin', head-shrinkin', round table review, where we'll talk spoilers 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 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice trailer.

• As mentioned in the show, Ian will host a special screening of the 1992 film, Meet the Parents (which was turned into the 2000 Ben Stiller comedy of the same name) on Friday, September 20th! See this rare film at Park Ridge, Illinois' historic Pickwick Theatre, followed by a Q&A with the people who made it! More info here.

• Also mentioned in the show, Ian joined Mark on The Spoiler Room Podcast this week for a live review of the criminally under-seen Robin and the 7 Hoods, starring The Rat Pack!

• 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.

  • Keep up with Annie Banks at The Mary Sue.

    • ...and We Got This Covered.

  • Make Nice with Mike Crowley of You'll Probably Agree.

  • And stir things up with Will Johnson of the Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast.

Reviewers rejected it. Audiences avoided it. But Earth's Mightiest Critics aren't Afraid of stirring things up with an honest and highly detailed look at the latest Blumhouse thriller! John C

o and Katherine Waterston star as parents who allow an experimental AI to take over their home--only to realize (too late, naturally) that something sinister is afoot. Part M3gan, part 2001, part Her, Chris Weitz's new film is the best, most frustrating kind of commercial failure: one that strives to be about something, but which falls short where it matters most.

Join us for a hard-hitting, human-generated conversation about one of the last desperate gasps of a wildly uneven summer.

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 Afraid trailer.

• Check out our AI-themed episode from earlier this year.

• 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.

  • Keep up with Annie Banks at The Mary Sue.

    • ...and We Got This Covered.

  • Make Nice with Mike Crowley of You'll Probably Agree.

  • And stir things up with Will Johnson of the Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast.

Talk about a long, strange trip!

On this month's leg of their Return to Hammerland, Ian and AC take a waterlogged detour through The Lost Continent. Co-directors Michael Carreras and Leslie Norman's tale of a doomed vessel transporting disreputable passengers (and dangerous chemicals!) promises intrigue, monsters, and mayhem.But there's hardly any of the last two--and the intrigue isn't especially intriguing.

In this spoilerific review, the guys talk about unreliable memories; the bizarro monsters-and-cults material that they literally couldn't get enough of; and how subsequent viewings might actually sway their opinions!

Plus: Get ready for more Friday the 13th references than you can shake a machete at--and find out what film will mark our next stop on the Return to Hammerland!

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 Lost Continent (1968) trailer.

• As mentioned in the show, you can watch AC's recent round table review of 1974's The Land That Time Forgot on Horror 101 w/ 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"!

Critics call Alien: Romulus the third-best Alien film--which is kind of like saying Back 2 Tha Hood is the first-best Leprechaun sequel.

Today, Earth's Mightiest Critics take a good, long look at Alien 7 and discuss whether or not Fede Alvarez's contribution to the franchise is a much-needed jolt of innovation--or the final case for shoving this series into cryo for 57 years.

Plus: We answer 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 Alien: Romulus 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.

  • Keep up with Annie Banks at The Mary Sue.

    • ...and We Got This Covered.

  • Make Nice with Mike Crowley of You'll Probably Agree.

  • And stir things up with Will Johnson of the Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast.

It's back-to-school time, and Accademia Giallo is getting back to basics with a bona fide, bloody giallo, starring the incomparable Edwige Fenech and George Hilton!

Giuliano Gestaldi's 1972 thriller, The Case of the Bloody Iris, centers on a beautiful model who recently escaped a sex cult--only to be pursued by a serial killer whose previous victims include former occupants of her new apartment!

Join us as we return to the J&B-soaked* world of flesh, fear, and freakishness! We'll also take your questions, comments, and SuperChats live!

The Case of the Bloody Iris recently debuted on 4K, courtesy of Celluloid Dreams! Order your copy today, and get an exclusive slipcover and a set of free reproduction lobby cards!

*Turns out there's no J&B in this movie (but it's still a giallo, as we discuss in the show)!

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 Case of the Bloody Iris trailer.

• Support all of our terrifying teachers' axe-tracurricular activities!

  • Stay studious with Aaron Christensen at Horror101 with Dr. AC!

  • And subscribe to his YouTube channel!

  • If you dare, venture down into Kitley's Krypt with Jon Kitley!

    • And listen to Jon's scary-good podcast, Discover the Horror!

  • Stalk Bryan Martinez in The Giallo Room!

  • Buy J. Blake Fichera's "Scored to Death" Volume I and II on Amazon (mentioned in the show).

• Catch up with classic episodes of his Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers podcast!

• Continue your education with our "Accademia Giallo" Playlist!

• And if by chance you missed it, catch up with Ian and Bryan's interview with giallo legend Sergio Martino, whom they interviewed earlier this year (his film, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, also stars Fenech and Hilton)!