Kim Morgan is a film and culture writer whose contributed to numerous outlets including MSN Movies, Entertainment Weekly, Garage, LA Weekly, Salon and DVD Journal. She served as DVD critic on Tech TV's "The Screen Savers," has appeared as a film critic on AMC's "The Movie Club" and as guest host on "Ebert & Roeper." You can read more at her blog, Sunset Gun.

Blog Entries by Kim Morgan

Words From the Saint, Eva Marie

Posted November 6, 2009 | 07:19 PM (EST)


evamarieyoungprofile.jpg picture by BrandoBardot


In her first movie, she kissed Marlon Brando. And then she won an Oscar. How many actresses get that kind of a debut? But then, how many actresses are as wonderful as...

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Happy Birthday Montgomery Clift

11 Comments | Posted October 17, 2009 | 06:37 PM (EST)


montyeyestwo.jpg picture by BrandoBardot


No one has Montgomery Clift's eyes.


Those haunted, sensitive eyes that gazed at the viewer with method modernity and timeless emotion -- pleading and gentle, but with the potential for reckless...

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Let the Wild Rumpus Start! Where the Wild Things Are

4 Comments | Posted October 15, 2009 | 02:09 PM (EST)


This is art.

While conducting interviews for his newest picture, Spike Jonze was pleased when I called his work a children's art film, stating that art films are considered a "dirty word" to studios. He thanked me. He didn't need to. We should thank him. Jonze's...

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Psycho Stepfather Supreme: Night of the Hunter

Posted October 13, 2009 | 02:45 PM (EST)


A re-do of The Stepfather? It only led me to my archive of demented dads, a movie (and real life) character I'm fascinated by. From the anti-Atticus Finch figures of Bigger than Life to Lord Love a Duck to Paper Moon, varied degrees of problematic parenting are always interesting.  But for those special psycho stepfathers, however, no one should ever forget the biggest,...

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Fire Is Inspirational: Richard Pryor

8 Comments | Posted October 9, 2009 | 05:54 PM (EST)


With the buzz that Marlon Wayans has replaced Eddie Murphy in the upcoming biopic, Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said? I was brought back to one of my favorite comedy show, album, and film of all time: Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip.


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Number One Third Man

3 Comments | Posted October 4, 2009 | 02:07 AM (EST)


Today I was asked a question I can never answer -- "what's your favorite movie?" When pressed to choose, the same picture always rises to the surface --  "The Third Man." It haunts me. No matter how many films I have seen and will see in the future, I'm fairly certain "The Third Man" will remain my...

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Rage, Repulsion, Response, Roman

39 Comments | Posted September 29, 2009 | 08:25 PM (EST)


Repulsion, rage and Roman. From comments, to blog posts, to emails, my entire day has been filled with Roman wrath. I can handle it. And I should -- I touched on a sensitive, flammable issue. But based on my "Repulsion" piece here, I think some readers failed to understand...

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Roman Polanski Understands Women: Repulsion

84 Comments | Posted September 27, 2009 | 05:56 PM (EST)


Update: After a flurry of comments and emails regarding this post, ranging from appreciation of my essay, to articulate disagreement, to insane sexist supposedly anti-rape salvos, I've written my take on the Polanski case, at my site. I wrote this piece not to defend his original actions, I wrote...

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Reason 101 To Love Vince Vaughn: He Loves Country Music

4 Comments | Posted September 24, 2009 | 07:44 PM (EST)


Vince Vaughn loves Buck Owens. He likes Gram Parsons and the Burrito Brothers. He reveres the work of Robert Plant with Alison Krauss. He has stories about George Jones and Merle Haggard -- current stories. He's hung with Willie Nelson. And he took the time to talk about all of...

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Patrick Swayze: 1952-2009

10 Comments | Posted September 15, 2009 | 03:30 PM (EST)


"Nobody puts Baby in the corner."


How many young girls (and older women, and many men as well) swooned when that rough-hewn handsome yet sensitive, yet beautifully graceful Patrick Swayze stood up for the awkward, ...

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Drive, She Said: Auto Adolescence

Posted September 2, 2009 | 04:55 PM (EST)


Excerpt from my piece at Garage Magazine. I'd run the whole story, but I'd like people to still buy magazines. Also, there's other great stories inside.

"Come on dad, give me the car tonight..."

Some of my most vivid teenage memories were wrapped in chrome and steel. My first...

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'Inglourious' Poetic Political Lyrical Sons

1 Comments | Posted September 1, 2009 | 02:46 PM (EST)


[Re-printed from my story "What Inglourious Basterds Owes to History" publlished at IFC. Spoilers ahead for those who haven't seen Inglourious Basterds.]


There have been two moments in film this year that have moved me to my cine-loving core. Both involved individuals stirred by the power of image,...

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Bobcat's Family Values: World's Greatest Dad

Posted August 24, 2009 | 05:16 PM (EST)


Here's something you don't hear every day: Sir? Madam? Your child. He is not a blessed miracle of God sent from heaven above. He is not full of promise. He is not underneath it all, a smart kid, a pussycat, an angel. No. He is, in fact, a mouth-breathing brat,...

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Basterds, Sam Fuller and Snoopy: Talking to Tarantino

4 Comments | Posted August 20, 2009 | 12:11 AM (EST)


Inglourious Basterds is a gorgeous, violent, beautifully acted, gut-punching, genre-blending jolt that doesn't make you want to scalp Nahtzies (as Brad Pitt's hillbilly Aldo Raine so memorably intones), it makes you want to watch a lot of movies. Or rather, live in a world of movies. Escape into a world...

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Light and Shade: A Talk With Davis Guggenheim

Posted August 13, 2009 | 05:24 PM (EST)


It Might Get Loud is about the allure, the mystery and the expression of the guitar. Bringing three very distinct, yet very different guitarists, Jimmy Page (The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin), Jack White (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs) and The Edge (U2)  together on one stage, filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient...

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You Shook Me, Jimmy Page: 'It Might Get Loud'

33 Comments | Posted August 5, 2009 | 10:04 PM (EST)


Inspired after watching Davis Guggenheim's fantastic It Might Get Loud featuring The Edge, Jack White and...Jimmy Page, I've fashioned some sort of list...

As a teenager, I discovered all kinds of music, from traditional to offbeat, blues to punk, country to classical, classic rock to rockabilly, but no matter who...

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Please Don't Let Me Love You: 'In A Lonely Place'

1 Comments | Posted July 16, 2009 | 04:59 PM (EST)


Nicholas Ray's In a Lonely Place is one of the most heartbreaking love stories ever committed to film. It's certainly one of the most poignant pictures (violently poignant at times) within the canon of film noir, a genre haunted by doomed love.

Noir love -- the kind that causes characters...

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Be My Bloody Baby, Marty

11 Comments | Posted July 12, 2009 | 01:09 PM (EST)


meanstreetstoppicdenirno.jpg picture by BrandoBardot



I miss New York City. I miss the New York City I've never seen -- the one I've only seen in movies. And after spending time in the Capital of the...

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Black Malden Moan: 'Baby Doll'

8 Comments | Posted July 2, 2009 | 01:18 AM (EST)


babydollrapture.jpg picture by BrandoBardot


With the great titan of acting and frequent genius Karl Malden passing (at 97 years of age god bless him), I'm posting one of my favorite Malden movies and performances...

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Michael Bay: The Exterminating Angel

4 Comments | Posted June 25, 2009 | 10:29 AM (EST)


transformersbaybot.jpg picture by BrandoBardot


What is Michael Bay trying to say? We know he's an entertainer, first and foremost (or so he thinks). So if one asked him directly, he'd more than likely answer (I'm thinking arms...

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