The Decline of Hollywood - VFX Edition

What happens when you think you don't have anything to learn from the people who came before you? They were mostly white men, and today, they are old white men; they can't have anything to teach us, not even about the technology they helped create. Or so says the current generation of "artists" in Hollywood.

Except for the small fact that those old white men took modest budgets - by today's standards, even after you factor in inflation - and made classic movies. Why? They used special effects to enhance their story telling. They didn't throw away story telling in favor of nostalgia and gratuitous special effects. They didn't have the money for gratuitous special effects.

And shooting on film meant they had to create a plan and stick to it. Film was expensive, and getting more was frequently out of the question. The virtually unlimited recording afforded by digital hasn't made story telling better, it has made it - in the minds of the "artists" - think they don't need a plan. They can fix it later. But I think they are learning that the endless reshoots don't improve things really.

If you only want to watch a small section of the video, the 30 seconds or so that start at one minute in, compares the look of the Predator from the upcoming movie Predator: Badlands with the original Arnold Schwarzenegger movie from 1987. To say the 2025 movie falls short is an understatement of immense proportions. The 2025 offering looks like bad cosplay in comparison.

This is Critical Drinker's video Predator: Badlands - LOL, What?!

How is it that a high-profile movie, made in 2025, somehow looks less convincing than a mid-budget sci-fi action flick from the 1980s?

The video is only 7 minutes, and I think you will enjoy it more than anyone is likely to enjoy this upcoming movie.