Kicking the Seat

Ian talks with the filmmakers behind the new movie, Jesus Revolution!In the late 1960s, a hippie preacher named Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie) teamed up with struggling Conservative pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer) to form a new spiritual movement that captured the hearts of a wayward generation. Caught up in the excitement was Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney), a teen looking for answers that neither the buttoned-up class nor the hair-hang-down crowd could provide.In this (very) brief interview, Ian asks co-directors Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle, and producer Kevin Downes, about why this story is relevant more than fifty years on--and how McCorkle balanced his duties as co-director and composer.Jesus Revolution is now playing in theatres, courtesy of Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company.Show Links:Watch the Jesus Revolution trailer.Watch Ian's 2021 interview with co-directors Jon and Andrew Erwin for The Jesus Music (which acts as a springboard for Jesus Revolution).Watch Ian's 2021 interview with producer Kevin Downes for American Underdog. Subscribe to, like, and comment on the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel!

Creepy kid alert! Yes, this month Ian and AC stop by the Village of the Damned on their journey Beyond Hammerland!Wolf Rilla's 1960 sci-fi thriller centers on the small English town of Midwich, whose residents mysteriously fall asleep one morning--and awaken to find that all of their women are pregnant with rapidly developing, blonde-haired psychic monsters. How will the Midwich grown-ups grapple with these hive-mind horrors--and just what is responsible for their sudden appearance?In this spoiler-heavy review, Ian and AC place this smart and terrifying Red Menace allegory in its Hammer Films context; consider its legacy in the genre; and gush over the bloody-good movie year that was 1960!Show Links:Watch the Village of the Damned trailer.Catch up with 2022's year-long journey, "Son of Hammerland"!And watch the series that started it all: "Hammerland"!Subscribe to, like, and comment on the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel!

Earth's Mightiest Critics return to talk about a superhero movie!Ian's year-long moratorium on caped content isn't up until May, but he's made an exception for Disney/Marvel's Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (thanks to the enthusiastic urgings of his 5-year-old son).So, yes, the gang is back together to review the further adventures of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), as he and his team of quantum adventurers get trapped in the realm of Phase 5 mega-threat Kang (Jonathan Majors)! (Wouldn't a better title have been Ant-Man and The Wasp: Lang vs. Kang?)In this heated and spoiler-packed round table, the EMC break down Phase 5's disappointing first entry; contend with the wildest collection of viewer comments yet; and welcome a special guest who closes out the show with a very different take on the film!Show LinksWatch the Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania 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 25YL...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.Subscribe to, like, and comment on the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel!

Two Argento movies in a row? Yes, the "Accademia Giallo" gang refuses to stray, as evidenced by their look at The Cat O’ Nine Tails!In the maestro's 1971 thriller, a newspaper reporter and a retired, blind journalist try to solve a series of killings connected to a pharmaceutical company's top-secret experimental research projects. In doing so, they become targets of the killer!In this spoilerific round table review, Ian gets schooled on why the second film in Argento's so-called "Animal Trilogy" is one of his best--even if it's not the most "giallo" giallo!"Accademia Giallo" is Kicking the Seat's monthly deep dive into Italian Horror's "giallo" sub-genre.Show LinksWatch the The Cat O’ Nine Tails trailer.Support all of our terrifying teachers' axe-tracurricular activities!Stay studious with Aaron Christensen at Horror101 with Dr. AC!And read his written review of THE CAT O' NINE TAILS! https://horror101withdrac.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-cat-o-nine-tails-1971-blu-ray-review.htmlIf 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! Subscribe to, like, and comment on the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel!And if you're dying for some extra homework:Watch our Eyeball episode, featuring guest lecturer Troy Howarth (mentioned in this episode!).Listen to Ian, AC, and Bryan review The Bird with the Crystal Plumage ("Animal Trilogy" Part 1).Watch last month's Four Flies on Grey Velvet episode ("Animal Trilogy" Part 3).

What better day than Valentine's Day to celebrate our love/hate relationship with Stephen King adaptations?Yes, the latest "Page2Screen" kicks into high gear with a look at Christine, King's 1983 novel about a teenager who becomes obsessed with fixing up a rusty 1958 Plymouth Fury--only to discover that it's haunted by a previous owner!The dark, merciless book was actually still being written when John Carpenter's film adaptation went into production (a fact Ian learned after recording this episode with Cole), and the big-screen version of the story wound up being a (near) total junker for diehard fans of the book.In this spoiler-packed episode, the guys look under the hood to examine what went wrong, what went right, and how bringing King's story to life faithfully might only be possible in the modern era! Show LinksWatch the Christine trailer.Enjoy this YouTube sketch by Man Carrying Thing, "How Stephen King Gets His Ideas" (referenced in the show).Check out Cole's recent article for Tor.com, "Why Do People Still Balk at Animation--And How Can We Change Their Minds?" (featuring Ian!).Keep up with all of Cole's literary goings-on at his website.Subscribe to, like, and comment on the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel!

In one of this series' timeliest episodes ever, Ian and Sujewa discuss Jafar Panahi's wildly dangerous film, No Bears!Panahi plays a version of himself, an exiled filmmaker who secretly shoots a movie by directing his actors and crew from a remote village in which he's hiding out. Things get complicated when, during his off-hours wanderings, he photographs a young couple who are having an affair. The villagers demand that Panahi hand over the evidence, which ignites a cultural and religious firestorm in the community. On top of that, the actors in Panahi's film run into troubles of their own.That's a surface reading of the plot, which spirals deeper into the realities of the actors, characters, and production team. In fact it wasn't until last week that the movie truly concluded--with Panahi's real-world hunger strike in an Iranian prison, and his subsequent release (he'd been locked up since July 2022 for protesting and making "anti-government propaganda films").Ian and Sujewa get into all of this and more while reviewing one of last year's very best movies.Also, Sujewa teases his newest venture, a series of L.A. screenings spotlighting independent films, called "Indie Discovery L.A."--and the guys make plans to cover a documentary about arthouse theatres called, Only in Theaters!Timestamps:Intro: 0:00 - 1:25What's New with Sujewa? 1:26 - 9:30No Bears Review: 9:31 - 48:19Outro: 48:20 - 50:56Show Links:Watch the No Bears trailer.Read the BBC's reporting on Panahi's release.Learn more about Sujewa's upcoming series, "Indie Discovery L.A."Rent Sujewa's new movie, The Secret Society for Slow Romance.Find clips, making-of videos, and other cool info about Sujewa's upcoming film, The Secret Society for Slow Romance.Follow the production of Sujewa's Slow Romance sequel, Cosmic Disco Rene.Keep up with all of Sujewa's projects.Follow Sujewa on Twitter.Subscribe to, like, and comment on the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel!

Our spotlight on Indian cinema roars into 2023 with a look at Sanal Kumar Sasidharan's Ozhivudivasathe Kali (An Off-Day Game)!Inner demons begins to unravel when 5 friends get together for a booze party in a remote location.Ian, Mike, Mark, and Jeff dig into this slow burning drama that raises a mirror to issues of masculinity, class, and politics in a way that few films do. It's got the attitude of The Hangover, the creepy, deep-woods danger of I Spit on Your Grave, and the unsettling man-child monster nihilism of Lord of the Flies. Despite all that, this is a really fun conversation!Plus! We talk about what's ahead in 2023 (Pathaan, anyone?), and unleash some angeRRR over the Academy's near-shutout of S.S. Rajamouli's masterpiece!Show Links:Watch the Ozhivudivasathe Kali 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 25YL...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.Subscribe to, like, and comment on the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel!

It is said that with every end, there is a beginning--and though we're leaving Hammerland in the rearview mirror (for now), Kicking the Seat will spend the next year venturing...BEYOND HAMMERLAND!That's right, Ian and AC kick off the next year of their bloody British best-of's with a look at other studios who made their own mark during Hammer's reign of celluloid terror. Today the guys enter the Theater of Blood, starring Vincent Price as a humiliated Shakespearean actor who takes imaginatively gruesome revenge on the cadre of critics that destroyed his career.This spoiler-filled analysis breaks down the movie's legacy, its assumptions (fair and not) about the profession of criticism, and how it casts a magical spell of horror, comedy, and tragedy that is uniquely its own!Show Links:Watch the Theater of Blood trailer.Read AC's written Theater of Blood review at Horror 101 w/ Dr. AC!Catch up with 2022's year-long journey, "Son of Hammerland"!And watch the series that started it all: "Hammerland"!Subscribe to, like, and comment on the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel!

Ian and Cole brush up on their life skills with a review of Nathan Fielder's reality-shattering HBO Max series, The Rehearsal!Yes, we're kicking of 2023 with a different kind of "Late Screening", as the guys dig into 6 episodes of a show in which Fielder helps everyday people prepare for difficult encounters by staging elaborate encounters involving actors, a multiverse of possible outcomes, and sets that are indistinguishable from their real-life counterparts.What begins as a unique rehearsal-of-the-week dissection of Reality TV quickly becomes a critique of disposable online relationships; the hunger for fame; and the one-dimensional view of family life perpetuated by popular entertainment.The Rehearsal is ostensibly a further evolution of Fielder's hit series, Nathan For You, and the comedies of Sacha Baron Cohen--but it's also much, much more. Join Ian and Cole for a spoilerific dive into a show that is so much more than a 6-part movie or a disposable TV show.Note: Ian's audio is a bit "off" in this episode. Yes, the mic was plugged in, but it wasn't communicating properly with Zoom--a fact he realized only after the recording had finished.Show LinksWatch the Rehearsal trailer.Listen to Ian and Cole's 2-part review of Nathan For You and its series finale/movie, Finding Frances!Part 1Part 2Read Cole's literary criticism at The Quill to Live.And follow his writing at Tor.com and ForbesSubscribe to, like, and comment on the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel!

"Accademia Giallo" kicks off 2023 with a look at Four Flies on Grey Velvet!In Dario Argento's 1971 thriller, a musician is stalked by an unknown homicidal maniac, who blackmails him for the accidental killing of another stalker. Ian, AC, Bryan, and Blake break down the characters and low-key carnage of this unique thriller whose final moments almost lead to an episode of their own! "Accademia Giallo" is Kicking the Seat's monthly deep dive into Italian Horror's "giallo" sub-genre.Show LinksWatch the Four Flies on Grey Velvet trailer.Support all of our terrifying teachers' axe-tracurricular activities!Stay studious with Aaron Christensen at Horror101 with Dr. AC!Plus: Read his Blu-ray review of Four Flies on Grey Velvet!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! Subscribe to, like, and comment on the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel!