Battleship Pretension: The Other Side of The Meg

Gordy sits down with the cinephiles and hosts of Battleship Pretension to discuss the importance of subverting audience expectations and why great screenwriting is not above films like The Meg.

“If you generate emotion and an abundance of it, it’s going to generate revenue. Audiences have a heart. They want blood. They want to have something to be worried about.” – Gordy Hoffman

Without giving away spoilers, Gordy advocates that the 2018 summer shark flick, The Meg, delivers genuine peril. Modern blockbusters tend to get more spotlight and better ratings due to smart marketing and star ensembles, but does star quality guarantee high stakes and an emotional story? Not always.

Though The Meg might not be considered a “prestige picture” by most Hollywood critics, Gordy and the hosts of Battleship Pretension applaud the film for engaging the audience with unexpected turns and a sense of lost hope.

“Blindside them with a source of conflict that seems impossible to overcome. That sense that all hope is lost. You want to get the audience in that place – that we have NO IDEA how they’re going to get out. That’s screenwriting. The characters are in trouble and you care that they’re in trouble.”

The podcast episode also features a cinephile conversation about The Other Side of The Wind and why Orson Wells is an incredibly timeless auteur. Gordy comments, “When I watch his films, it feels like a Wells picture. It feels like I’m watching something that was made last week. No one is doing what he did — still!” The Other Side of The Wind is set to release in theatres on November 2nd, 2018.

Want to hear more? Click here to listen to the full podcast episode!