Kicking the Seat

Who says Awards Season has to be a dreary time at the movies, full of biopics and downer dramas? A24 has just the antidote to the perennial prestige pity pictures: David Freyne's new romantic comedy, Eternity!

In this film's version of the afterlife, recently departed souls have one week to decide which themed paradise they want to spend eternity in. Turns out Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) has another tough choice to make: which of her dead husbands does she pick to be her forever partner? Larry (Miles Teller) was her husband and father to her children for 65 years. But her first spouse, Luke (Callum Turner), a dreamy military man who died in the Korean War, has waited decades to be reunited with her.

If this bizarre premise (which also includes afterlife advocates and a special hallway where the dead can look in on their previous lives) sounds familiar, it should: Eternity is a thruple version of Albert Brooks' 1991 film, Defending Your Life.

For guest host Cati Glidewell, this is a welcome update of an all-time-great comedy. For Ian, it's a shabby and insulting imitation. And in this episode, these intrepid critics will dig into Eternity in spoilerific detail to determine whether it will stand the test of time...or be banished to the purgatory of half-baked movie ideas!

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• Watch the Eternity (2025) trailer.

• Bonus! Flashback to our "Late Screening" review of Albert Brooks' Defending Your Life!

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

  • Get seated with The Blonde in Front!

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

  • 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.

  • 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 save your celluloid soul with Dave Canfield’s Substack, "Creature Feature Preacher".

Awards season may be driving Earth's Mightiest Critics loco, but we're moving full steam ahead with Clint Bentley's Train Dreams!

Joel Edgerton stars as Robert Grainier, a logger and railroad worker adjusting to change in early 20th Century America. This adaptation of Denis Johnson's novella has been compared to the work of Terrence Malick. But does that mean its an artful, easygoing meditation on life--or pretentious celluloid Ambien?

Join us as we forge a path to the answers in spoilerific detail, AND take your questions, comments, and SuperChats!

Train Dreams is now streaming on Netflix!

Support Kicking the Seat on Patreon, subscribe to us on YouTube, and follow us at:

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• Watch the Train Dreams (2025) trailer.

• As mentioned in the show, Joe Engleman of the Chicago Reader wrote an enlightening review of Train Dreams--which formed the backbone of this conversation. Read it here!

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

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

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

  • 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 save your celluloid soul with Dave Canfield’s Substack, "Creature Feature Preacher".

Celebrate "Emerald Friday" with Earth's Mightiest Critics and a downright wicked review of Wicked Part 2!

Jon M. Chu's sequel is an even bigger box office smash than last year's reimagining of the hit Broadway musical. But now that Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) has defied gravity and struck out on her own against the shady Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), will her struggles prove to be as engaging as the Odd Couple antics with Galinda (Ariana Grande) from the first film? Or is Wicked: For Good's intersecting with The Wizard of Oz the beginning of the end for audience interest?

Join us for a gravity-defying good time as we talk spoilers and take your questions, comments, and SuperChats!

Support Kicking the Seat on Patreon, subscribe to us on YouTube, and follow us at:

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Show Links

• Watch the Wicked: For Good (2025) trailer.

• Catch up with last year's KtS roundtable review of Wicked: Part 1!

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

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

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

  • 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 save your celluloid soul with Dave Canfield’s Substack, "Creature Feature Preacher".

In the final stretch of their daring Escape from Hammerland, Ian and AC pulled over to pick up fellow traveler Bill Gudmundson for a look at Val Guest's 1957 people-are-the-real-monsters movie, The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas!

More popularly known simply as The Abominable Snowman, this cerebral safari-in-the-snow film stars Peter Cushing as Dr. Rollason, a botanist whose research trip is sidelined when he joins an expedition of American poachers searching for the famed Yeti monster. What follows is a twisty, heady, and hardly monstrous story that presaged sci-fi horror classics like Alien and John Carpenter's The Thing!

In this spoilerific episode, the guys talk about how this film compares to Guest and Kneale's other Hammer contributions; the transportive blend of natural footage and soundstage production design; and that delightfully ambiguous ending!

Support Kicking the Seat on Patreon, subscribe to us on YouTube, and follow us at:

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• Watch the Abominable Snowman (1957) trailer.

• As mentioned in the show, Shout! Factory released a great Blu-ray of The Abominable Snowman, which is still available via Gruv.

• We also talked about the magazine Little Shoppe of Horrors, which will feature The Abominable Snowman in an upcoming issue.

• Feast on the meticulous model-making skills of Bill Gudmundson at his website, Bill's Kitchen!

• 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.

• Grab only what you can carry as we "Escape from Hammerland"!

• Hitch a ride with our entire 2024 series in the "Return to Hammerland" Playlist!

• 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"

Ian welcomes back filmmaker Amir Motlagh to discuss his 2024 drama, Young Ali: Those Were the Days!

Motlagh co-writes (with Charles Borg), directs, and stars in this slice-of-life look at a middle-aged Iranian-American man grappling with job loss and divorce in the early months of the COVID-19 lockdown. Forced to move back in with his elderly parents, he seeks refuge in old home movies while trying to figure out whether or not he has a future.

In this interview, Ian and Amir dig into the real-life roots of this challenging, heartfelt, and inspiring story, which expands upon similar themes from Motlagh's previous films. From the ins and outs of his scriptwriting collaboration, to capturing the naturalism of family arguments, to finding meaning at the depths of despair--this conversation delves into a movie that speaks not only to a specific moment in time, but to the universality of its rippling after effects.

Support Kicking the Seat on Patreon, subscribe to us on YouTube, and follow us at:

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• Watch the Young Ali (2024) trailer.

• Sign up for Relay to stream Young Ali!

• Keep up with all of Amir's projects at his website.

• As mentioned in the show, Amir's dad (who appears in Young Ali) has his own cooking show on YouTube! Dig in to "Cooking with Yousef" (and subscribe while you're at it)!

• In 2026, Young Ali will screen as part of Sujewa Ekanayake's 3I/Atlas Film Festival. Stay tuned for dates and more info here.

• Support Sujewa's new film project, 53 Spaceships, the latest adventure of Cosmic Disco Detective Rene!

• 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).

• Follow Sujewa on X.

• Check out all the episodes in our “IndieSeen” Playlist!

Kicking the Seat is nostalgic for tradition, so we're excited to welcome back Pat McDonald for our annual remembrance of the JFK assassination. In the wild return of "There's No Stalgia Like Nostalgia", the guys look at Mel Stuart's 1964 documentary, Four Days in November!

Detailing the events leading up to and immediately following that fateful day in Dallas, the film may be old hat to Camelot-philes. But for those who've spent decades learning about Kennedy, Oswald, and the web of theories that has spun out of 11/22/64 strictly from pop culture, Stuart's movie will be a true eye-opener.

Watch as Ian and Pat pull lessons from the characters, connections, and conspiracies--and how the continuously evolving media landscape shapes not only how we experience world events, but how we reflect on the way old media propagandized whole generations!

Support Kicking the Seat on Patreon, subscribe to us on YouTube, and follow us at:

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• Watch the full version of Four Days in November (1964), courtesy of the "David Von Pein's JFK Channel" on YouTube (and subscribe while you're at it!).

• And check out Mr. Von Pein's "Four Days in November" blog--an entire fan site dedicated to the film!

• As mentioned in the show, Pat spoke with Stephen Fagin, curator of the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, TX. Watch the multi-part interview, beginning with Part One, below!

• Keep up with Pat at HollywoodChicago.com.

• Listen to Pat's movie reviews on the radio at STAR 96.7.

2025 has been the year of Stephen King movie adaptations, and Earth's Mightiest Critics are here to chase down a consensus on Edgar Wright's The Running Man!

Glen Powell stars as Ben Richards, a desperate, down-on-his luck father and husband living in an urban dystopian hellscape. He signs up to compete in the titular game show, which will pit him against everyone in America bent on keeping him from winning a billion-dollar prize.

This version is markedly different from the 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. But does it actually show fidelity to King's harrowing tale of loneliness and poverty in a world gone mad--or merely use the premise as window-dressing for an absurd and over-long cartoon? And, if that's the case, does Wright pull it off?

Join us as we lace up and take off after a spoilerific evaluation. We also take your questions, comments, and SuperChats!

Support Kicking the Seat on Patreon, subscribe to us on YouTube, and follow us at:

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Show Links

• Watch the Running Man (2025) trailer.

• Enjoy this flashback to Ian and David Fowlie's review of the original Running ManN from 1987!

• As mentioned in the episode, Mark interviewed actor Patrick Miller, who appeared in another Stephen King movie, Maximum Overdrive!

• For Ian's takes on the Hammer Frankenstein films (referenced in the episode), check out his reviews with Aaron Christensen of Horror 101 w/ Dr. AC in our "Hammerland" series!

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

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

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

  • 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 save your celluloid soul with Dave Canfield’s Substack, "Creature Feature Preacher".

Who would be so foolish as to mention Jean-Luc Godard and Ed Wood in the same sentence? Well, we just did--and Richard Linklater drew a (perhaps unintentional) parallel between the two polar-opposite filmmakers in his latest movie, Nouvelle Vague!

On today's IndieSeen, Ian and Sujewa welcome back Jeff York to review one of the year's very best films: a breezy, loving, fictionalized look at the filming of Godard's groundbreaking French crime/romance, Breathless. Guillaume Marbeck stars as a young Godard, who is the last of his clique of film critic colleagues to try his hand at actually making a movie.

He recruits Algerian soldier-turned-actor Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dullin) and up-and-coming American acting sensation Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch) to star as doomed lovers on the run. During his frantic 20-day shoot, Godard must dodge a nervous producer, a suspicious cast and crew, and a complete lack of filming permits in order to finish a work that would help redefine his beloved medium (jump-cuts, anyone?).

In this spoilerific love letter to Nouvelle Vague (which translates to "French Wave"), the guys look at how Linklater (Dazed and Confused, the Before Trilogy) captures a time, place, and, most importantly, burgeoning creative spirit. They also stray far afield into a debate about the effectiveness of title portraits--and whether or not they derail this movie!

Whether you're a devoted cineaste and fan of the French Wave--or if you think "Jean-Luc Godard" was that bald guy from Star Trek, Nouvelle Vague is an open invitation to explore colorful characters, a passion for filmmaking, and the calling to do something creative--no matter how much (or how little) time, talent, and experience one has. Kinda like Ed Wood!

Nouvelle Vague is now streaming exclusively on Netflix!

Support Kicking the Seat on Patreon, subscribe to us on YouTube, and follow us at:

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Show Links

• Watch the Nouvelle Vague (2025) trailer.

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

• Flashback to Ian and Sujewa's review of Breathless!

• Support Sujewa's new film project, 53 Spaceships, the latest adventure of Cosmic Disco Detective Rene!

• 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).

• Follow Sujewa on X.

• Check out all the episodes in our “IndieSeen” Playlist!

Earth's Mightiest Critics come alive with an electrifying roundtable review of Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein!

The legendary genre director of Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, and Crimson Peak returns with a sprawling adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic sci-fi/horror novel, which follows a scientist's (Oscar Isaac) obsession with creating life from nothingness. The result is a hulking, animated monstrosity (Jacob Elordi) whose terrifying visage masks a lonely, searching human soul. But Victor Frankenstein's meddling in the natural order sets tragedies in motion that will set creature against creator in a pursuit spanning years and continents!

Del Toro has called Shelley his "first love". Is this cinematic ode to her work a bursting, heartfelt opus--or a shambling patchwork of other interpretations?

Join us as we piece together the definitive discussion on Del Toro's dream project! We also take your questions, comments, and SuperChats!

Support Kicking the Seat on Patreon, subscribe to us on YouTube, and follow us at:

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• Letterboxd

• Instagram

• Facebook

Show Links

• Watch the Frankenstein (2025) trailer.

• For Ian's takes on the Hammer Frankenstein films (referenced in the episode), check out his reviews with Aaron Christensen of Horror 101 w/ Dr. AC in our "Hammerland" series!

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

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

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

  • 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 save your celluloid soul with Dave Canfield’s Substack, "Creature Feature Preacher".

Earth's Mightiest Critics have scoured the galaxy for a worthy Predator sequel.

Will Badlands prove a worthy trophy? Co-writer/director Dan Trachtenberg follows up Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers with a future-set adventure involving the unlikely pairing of a young Yautja warrior-in-training and a damaged Weyland-Yutani synthetic. Together, they must traverse a hostile alien world in search of the ultimate kill--without falling victim to the monster themselves!

The new sequel has garnered enough positive buzz to paper over early concerns about dodgy Predator makeup, a gore-restricting PG-13 rating, and an irksome performance by Elle Fanning. But now that Badlands has been unleashed on the world...is it actually one of the series' best entries?

Join us as we hunt down an answer to the question, "Is the Predator franchise dead--or just getting started?" We'll also take your questions, comments, and SuperChats!

Support Kicking the Seat on Patreon, subscribe to us on YouTube, and follow us at:

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• Instagram

• Facebook

Show Links

• Watch the Predator: Badlands (2025) trailer.

• And if you're in Chicago on Wednesday, November 12, swing by the Davis Theatre to see Cati Glidewell's performance in the short film "Script Tease"--as part of the Windie City Film Fest!

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

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

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

  • 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 save your celluloid soul with Dave Canfield’s Substack, "Creature Feature Preacher".