Kicking the Seat

Ain't no rats in this pack, daddy-o! Just Ian and Jeff looking back at 2001's Ocean’s Eleven--a film that holds up and holds its own as one of Hollywood's coolest, cleverest blockbusters!

In Steven Soderbergh's action/comedy heist flick, George Clooney plays Danny Ocean, a professional con man who's just been released from a 4-year prison stint. He immediately hatches a plan to steal $150 million from three Las Vegas casinos, and recruits an all-star cast of misfit criminal specialists to help him pull off the job. Complicating matters is the fact that Ocean's ex-wife, Tess (Julia Roberts), has taken up with Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), the corrupt manager of the mega-vault connecting all three casinos!

In this spoilerific retrospective, the guys look at Ocean’s Eleven as an evolution from Soderbergh's 1998 film, Out of Sight (also starring Clooney as an ex-con out for one last score); lament the death of the "movie star"; stand up for Roberts' character against accusations of being under-developed; and, somehow, get embroiled in the Harrison Butker controversy!

Plus, much more!

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 Ocean’s Eleven (2001) trailer.

• Pick up the new 4K UHD Blu-ray Ocean’s Trilogy from Warner Bros.

• Watch Ian and Cole Rush's "Page2Screen" review of Soderbergh's Out of Sight:

• Keep up with Jeff York's criticism and caricatures at The Establishing Shot.

Earth's Mightiest Critics have seen the future, and are ready to share their findings on Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes!

In Wes Ball's first entry in the rebooted franchise, Apes have seized control of America, while humanity's remnants devolve further into mute scavengers. When a peaceful chimpanzee tribe is overrun by barbaric gorillas, it falls to Noa (Owen Teague) to search out his captive friends and family--while unlocking the mystery of a strange human woman who has tagged along.

Does this fourth entry in the modern Apes saga feel like a necessary continuation of the pre-Disney-owned Fox series--or is another inevitable Mouse House dilution of a once-venerable film series?

Join us for a damn dirty dialogue about the summer's first real blockbuster--and 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 Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes 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 Movieweb

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

Fresh from the 11th Chicago Critics Film Festival, Ian and Pat look at one of 2024's breakout performances--with an early review of KiKi Layne in Dandelion!

Writer/director Nicole Riegel's indie drama centers on the eponymous struggling musician (Layne), whose shot at fame was derailed years ago when her mother took ill. Now, pushing 30, and with no prospects beyond singing to distracted hotel bar patrons, Dandelion travels from Ohio to South Dakota for a song contest/biker rally. There she meets a country/folk band, and falls for one of its singers, a dreamy UK transplant named Casey (Thomas Doherty).

The film marks a new era for Layne, who until now has been strictly known as an actress (in films like If Beale Street Could Talk, The Old Guard, and Don’t Worry, Darling). In Dandelion, the star shares another talent with the world: a magnificent singing voice.

In this (mostly) spoiler-free review, Ian and Pat discuss the film's unabashedly indie sensibilities; its place among great movies about making art, and whether or not it is more post-racial than its creators may think.

Plus: Ian spoke briefly with KiKi Layne on the Dandelion red carpet at CCFF. Stay til the end to find out how Layne and Riegel created the character of Dandelion, and what Layne will take with her from the film into her next projects!

Note: Dandelion is still winding its way through the festival circuit, but is slated for theatrical release on July 12, from IFC Films!

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

Show Links

• Catch up with Pat's full coverage of the 11th Chicago Critics Film Festival at HollywoodChicago.com.

  (And watch this space for Pat's interview with KiKi Layne, which we'll share when Dandelion hits theaters this July!)

• 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!

Get banged-up and bruised with Earth's Mightiest Critics as we take on The Fall Guy!

David Leitch's latest outing is a love letter to the profession that gave him a career: professional stuntwork. Ryan Gosling plays Colt Seavers, the years-long stunt double for the world's biggest (and most egotistical) action star, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). When Tom goes missing, Colt is enlisted by a high-powered producer (Hannah Waddington) to get him back to set and save the production for director Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt)--who also happens to be Colt's crush!

That's the movie sold in the trailers, anyway.

The actual Fall Guy is something very different. Join us as we smash, crash, and through the latest big-screen adaptation of a long-lost TV show--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! http://www.kickseat.com/

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 Fall Guy 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 Movieweb

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

Ian and David are on the hunt for the perfect thrilling summer blockbuster--and have traveled all the way back to 1993's The Fugitive!

In Andrew Davis' Academy Award-nominated adaptation of the 1960s TV show, Harrison Ford stars as Dr. Richard Kimble--a famous surgeon wrongfully accused of killing his wife (Sela Ward). Set free by a catastrophic accident during his prison transport, Kimble sets out to clear his name by finding the mysterious one-armed man who actually committed the murder. He's beset by a team of U.S. Marshals, led by the dogged and calculating Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones), whose pursuit of his prey knows no compromise.

In this loving and spoilerific look-back, the guys praise The Fugitive for being the kind of serious (and seriously exciting) big-budget entertainment Hollywood refuses to make anymore; puzzle over the movie's wild "Illinois" geography; and plow through the film's numerous "errors".

Plus: Ian evades capture by changing his appearance live on camera!

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 Fugitive (1993) trailer.

• Pick up The Fugitive on 4K UHD Blu-ray from Warner Bros.

• Speaking of Chicago institutions, here's your reminder that the 11th Chicago Critics Film Festival has taken over the Music Box Theatre! Get your festival passes and tickets now!

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

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 Links

• Watch 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 Links

• Watch 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 Links

• Watch 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 Movieweb

  • And 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 Links

• Watch 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!