Kicking the Seat

2023 has been an abysmal year for comic book movies, but there's one last glimmer of hope on the horizon: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom!Okay, maybe "hope" is a strong word, but Earth's Mightiest Critics will take anything they can get at this point! Can this too-late sequel with a storied production give the DCEU a dignified sendoff--or will it be a Viking funeral?Grab your flippers and join us for a spoilerific deep dive!Note: At the end of the show, Ian announced the last livestream of 2023 as taking place on "January 31st". He meant to say, of course, December 31st. You can listen to that episode of "Spotlight India" here.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 Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom trailer.Support all of Earth's Mightiest Critics at their various outlets:Check out Mark "The Movie Man" Krawczyk's The Spoiler Room Podcast.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.Get seated with The Blonde in Front, Cati Glidewell.Make Nice with Mike Crowley of You'll Probably Agree.Keep up with Annie Banks at Chuck Load of Comics....and MoviewebKeep up with Jeff York's criticism and caricatures at The Establishing Shot.And stir things up with Will Johnson of the Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast.

Our journey Beyond Hammerland concludes with one of the series' most harrowing films!Michael Reeves' 1968 drama, Witchfinder General stars Vincent Price as Matthew Hopkins, the titular judge, jury, and executioner wandering the English countryside in a quest to snuff out evil--at least that's what he tells any townsfolk willing to pay him to exorcise local "witches"! When he and his blood-hungry sidekick, Stearne (Robert Russell), accuse and dispatch a beloved priest, they find themselves in a gruesome game of cat-and-mouse with the priest's niece and her soldier husband. The result is one of the most shocking Hammer-adjacent films you'll ever see!In this year-end extravaganza, Ian and AC dig into Witchfinder General's odd and tragic history; its influence on late-60s American cinema; and the masterful ways in which Reeves conjures terrifying moments from non-supernatural horrors!Also, they guys look back on some of their favorite 2023 "Beyond Hammerland" entries, and tease what's to come in 2024!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 Witchfinder General (1968) trailer.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"!

After more than a year, Armond White returns to Kicking the Seat for a look at Cord Jefferson's American Fiction!Jeffrey Wright stars as Thelonious "Monk" Ellison, a teacher and frustrated author who writes a fake biography of a career criminal and becomes an overnight sensation. The book, meant to be a parody of the kind of Black pathology reveled in by White culture, is adopted by readers everywhere who see it as a gripping and authentic read. This horrifies the author and adds to a heap of problems, including sibling rivalry, a mother with dementia, and a tentative beach house romance.In this spoilerific episode, Ian and Armond cut through the politics, the pandering, and the pissed-away potential of a film that could have been the next Hollywood Shuffle--opting instead to be a gutless Hollywood virtue signal. Also, stick around 'til the end to find out what movie the guys will talk about next! 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 American Fiction trailer.Read Armond's review of American Fiction in The National Review.Also read Armond's review of Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon (mentioned in the show).In preparation for the guys' upcoming review of the Color Purple remake, watch their joint discussion of Steven Spielberg's 1986 original and D.W. Griffith's Orphans of the Storm.Order the book that inspired these regular movie chats: Armond's Make Spielberg Great Again.

Earth's Mightiest Critics celebrate the season by unwrapping their presents early!But is Will Paul King's Wonka a fanciful fizzy lifting drink of a prequel--or a soggy, repackaged carton of snozzberries?Find out in this spoilerific and oh-so- scrumdiddlyumptious look at 2023's major holiday blockbuster!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 Wonka trailer.Check out Mark's Oompa-Loompa-Rific "Movie Man's Movie Minute" on TikTok!Support all of Earth's Mightiest Critics at their various outlets:Check out Mark "The Movie Man" Krawczyk's The Spoiler Room Podcast.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 MoviewebKeep up with Jeff York's criticism and caricatures at The Establishing Shot.And stir things up with Will Johnson of the Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast.

Join Ian and Cole as they put a little love in your heart with a 35th anniversary "Late Screening" of Richard Donner's Scrooged!Bill Murray stars as Frank Cross, a mean and miserable TV executive whose upcoming live Christmas Eve production of A Christmas Carol has him acting surlier than usual. Like the Charles Dickens novella he's adapting, Cross is visited by four ghosts hell-bent on helping him rediscover his humanity (and, just maybe, some holiday cheer).In this spoilerific and likely very controversial episode, Ian sticks up for Murray against accusations that he's neither particularly funny nor a very good actor. The guys also look at the strengths and weaknesses of Donner's dark, effects-heavy, slapstick mélange and decide whether it belongs in the pantheon of off-kilter holiday classics!Plus: Find out why Cole will be...a little busier than usual in 2024!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 Scrooged trailer.Keep up with all of Cole's literary goings-on at his website.For more literary wizardry, crack open our "Page2Screen" Playlist!Subscribe to, like, and comment on the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel!

Accademia Giallo has one last class before the holiday break: an anatomy lesson on Pieces!Juan Piquer Simón's 1982 cult classic centers on the co-eds of a Boston college campus who are targeted by a mysterious killer with a bizarre hobby: creating a human jigsaw puzzle from their body parts!Join your fearsome faculty as we dissect this brutal and bizarre slice of 80s giallo--and take your questions and comments in the chat!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 Pieces trailer.As an added treat, check out the return of Baron Martino, discussing The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears!Support all of our terrifying teachers' axe-tracurricular activities!Stay studious with Aaron Christensen at Horror101 with Dr. AC!If you dare, venture down into Kitley's Krypt with Jon Kitley! And listen to Jon's scary-good podcast, Discover the Horror!Get devious with Bryan Martinez's Film Deviant podcast!And check out his YouTube show, The Giallo Room!Buy J. Blake Fichera's "Scored to Death" Volume I and II on Amazon (mentioned in the show).And catch up with classic episodes of his Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers podcast!Continue your education with our "Accademia Giallo" Playlist!

Listen up, delinquents! Ian welcomes back author Ben Beard to discuss his new book: The Bad Class--as well as the 1983 Sean Penn vehicle, Bad Boys!When most people think of 1980s movies, John Hughes and Steven Spielberg often spring to mind. In his latest work, Beard explores the seedy flip-side of flashy, Reagan-era youth culture in cinema, focusing on Bad Boys, Class of 1984, Repo Man, and The Outsiders--interspersed with bizarre tales of growing up in a politically connected family; navigating the alternating dangers and malaise of Pensacola, and a wrecked friendship that has echoed through the decades.In this wide-ranging interview, the guys talk about the inspiration for the book, how 80s movies affected both Ian and Ben, and how utterly criminal it is that Bad Boys isn't more widely heralded as one of that decade's very best films!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 Bad Boys (1983) trailer.Order Ben's latest book, The Bad Class.Order the tome that started it all: Ben's 2020 book, The South Never Plays Itself.Watch Ian and Ben on a recent Horror 101 w/ Dr. AC panel discussion Talk to Me!

It's the most Judy-ful time of the year! Last December, Ian and Pat explored 1963's bizarre TV special, The Judy Garland Christmas Show. Now they travel further back in time for a look at the classic 1944 "holiday" musical, Meet Me in St. Louis!Garland stars as Esther, a teen girl living with her sisters and brother in 1903 Missouri. All the kids are boy-crazy, girl-crazy, or unsettling-neighborhood-mischief-crazy--and their world is upended when Dad's law firm promotes him right into a high-paid position New York job.Join the guys for a spoilerific look at a film that Pat has grown up on--and which Ian saw for the first time in preparation for this episode. Is Meet Me in St. Louis a piece of nostalgia worth treasuring, or simply, as Ian puts it, "a 2-hour version of the first 20 minutes of Gone with the Wind"?Plus: If you're in Chicago this weekend, learn how you can catch Pat in A Judy Christmas, a satirical stage play about the making of that fateful TV special!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 Meet Me in St. Louis trailer.Chicagoans! Get your tickets to see Pat in A Judy Chrismas--which takes over Chicago's Den Theatre this weekend! Order online…Or call (773) 697-3830.Keep up with Pat at HollywoodChicago.com.Listen to Pat's movie reviews on the radio at STAR 96.7.

This was almost another one of "those" episodes. Ian was frustrated and bored to tears by the first half of Pete Walker's 1974 thriller, Frightmare, but just after the mid-point...something amazing happened.The 1974 thriller stars Sheila Keith and Rupert Davies as Dorothy and Edmund Yates--a loving couple in a relationship so committed, they wound up in a mental institution for brutally killing six people! Fifteen years later, their daughters, Jackie (Deborah Fairfax) and Debbie (Kim Butcher), must cope with a family legacy of bloodlust, which may just be hereditary!What turned Ian around on this one, to the point where he now considers Frightmare to be one of the most shocking and satisfying horror films of all time? And just who is this Pete Walker guy? Watch as Ian falls in love and AC shares insights into one of his favorite directors!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 Frightmare (1974) trailer.Subscribe to AC's YouTube channel, Horror 101 with Dr. AC.Watch Ian's recent appearance on Horror 101 with Dr. A.C., featuring a panel discussion about Psycho II and Curtains (mentioned in the show)!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"!

Why should Los Angeles have all the fun? This Wednesday night, friend and filmmaker Sujewa Ekanayake brings his Indie Discovery L.A. film series to Chicago, with a special one night only event at Facets!In this special edition of IndieSeen, Ian welcomes back Sujewa and actor/director Raphael Sbarge, whose respective films, Cosmic Disco Detective Rene and Only in Theaters, will screen on November 29th--along with Pierre Guillet's Bristol Fashion.Watch as the guys look at what it takes to put on movie events across the country in support of independent film--including navigating distribution deals; the ups and downs of streaming; and balancing creating art with promoting it (while still maintaining a life!).Scroll down for tickets, showtimes, and more info about each of the movies. Oh, and did we mention that Ian will be hosting an Only in Theaters Q&A with Raphael following the 7pm show? We'll see you there!Subscribe, like, and comment to the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel, and check out kickseat.com for multiple movie podcasts each week!Show LinksTrailersOnly in TheatersCosmic Disco Detective ReneBristol FashionEvent InfoLearn more about Indie Discovery L.A., and Wednesday's Chicago screenings at Facets!Purchase tickets directly for Indie Discovery L.A. Chicago: Bristol Fashion (5pm)Only in Theaters (7pm featuring Q&A w/ director Raphael Sbarge)Cosmic Disco Detective Rene (9pm)Support Indie Discovery L.A.Donate to IDLA Chicago event.Donate to Cosmic Disco Detective Rene via GoFundMe (for future distribution work).Can't make it to Chicago this Wednesday?Rent/Buy Only in Theaters digitally on Amazon!Fans of physical media can also buy the extras-packed Only in Theaters DVD from Kino Lorber!Rent The Secret Society for Slow Romance (the predecessor to Cosmic Disco Detective Rene)Rent Cosmic Disco Detective Rene on Vimeo!Creator LinksKeep up with all of Sujewa's projects.Follow Sujewa on X.Previous InterviewsWatch Ian and Sujewa's discussion with Only in Theaters Raphael and subjects Greg and Tish Laemmle!Watch Ian's interview with Sujewa and Cosmic Disco Detective Rene star Alia Lorae!