Out of Focus Archives - The Escapist

Out of Focus

The Streaming Wars Are Lost

By Darren MooneyNovember 1, 2023

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John Carpenter’s Christine is Revenge of the Nerds as a Horror Film

October 25, 2023

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Martin Scorsese’s Casino is a Western and a Religious Parable

October 18, 2023

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The Exorcist is About the Horrors of Modernity

October 4, 2023

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Saw III is the Ultimate “Screw You” Sequel

September 27, 2023

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The streaming wars are coming to an end. As the survivors stumble dazed through the wreckage of what remains, it’s hard not to wonder if the struggle has irreparably damaged what they claimed to be fighting over.

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The Streaming Wars Are Lost

By Darren MooneyNovember 1, 2023

John Carpenter's Christine, celebrating its 40th anniversary, is a film about a killer car. It is also about repression and nerdy masculinity in crisis.

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John Carpenter’s Christine is Revenge of the Nerds as a Horror Film

By Darren MooneyOctober 25, 2023

Martin Scorsese's Casino is a crime movie, but it also exists at a crossroads of the old western and religion.

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Martin Scorsese’s Casino is a Western and a Religious Parable

By Darren MooneyOctober 18, 2023

William Friedkin’s The Exorcist remains one of the best horror movies ever made. It is also a film indelibly of its moment — a perfect snapshot of the simmering anxieties of early 1970s America.

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The Exorcist is About the Horrors of Modernity

By Darren MooneyOctober 4, 2023

In many long-running horror franchises, there comes a point where the films seem to scream, “Enough!” Saw III throws audience expectations back in their faces.

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Saw III is the Ultimate “Screw You” Sequel

By Darren MooneySeptember 27, 2023

Glen Powell should be on the same movie star track that Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio were in the '80s and '90s, but something has changed in Hollywood.

Movies & TV

Where Have All the Movie Stars Gone? Blame Netflix

By Darren MooneySeptember 20, 2023

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The Equalizer 3, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 and the Post-Pandemic Travelogue

By Darren MooneySeptember 13, 2023

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey's transgressive horror belies a more terrifying truth about capitalism and the endless churn of IP.

Movies & TV

The True Horror of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey is Its Limited Imagination

By Darren MooneySeptember 6, 2023

In Hulu's excellent series The Great, sometimes the body politic is just the human body.

Movies & TV

The Great Reimagines Statecraft as a Sitcom

By Darren MooneyAugust 30, 2023

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Strays and the New Good Boy Canon

By Darren MooneyAugust 23, 2023

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Only Murders in the Building Turned Its Creators Into Content

By Darren MooneyAugust 16, 2023

10 years after the announcement that Peter Capaldi would assume the lead role in Doctor Who, we look back at his tenure on the beloved series.

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Peter Capaldi’s Doctor Who Asked What It Meant to be a Good Man

By Darren MooneyAugust 9, 2023

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