How do you feel about the 'classic' villain monologue about their plans?

[xena]

A lot of older stories used the monologue as a convenient way to explain the plot to the audience. Sometimes it’s theatrical, sometimes it feels artificial. Like you said with the Laura Croft examples, there are moments where the villain conveniently explains everything while the protagonist “accidentally” overhears and if it's not done correctly, it can feel like a cheap way out.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

A lot of older stories used the monologue as a convenient way to explain the plot to the audience. Sometimes it’s theatrical, sometimes it feels artificial. Like you said with the Laura Croft examples, there are moments where the villain conveniently explains everything while the protagonist “accidentally” overhears and if it's not done correctly, it can feel like a cheap way out.

Done right the laura croft example can work.
But if it's just 'randomly' thrown in, yeah, it's blatantly obvious the information isn't intended for the character in question (In this case Laura)
That seems to happen quite a bit throughout the Toomb Raider series, though the most egregious ones are the reboot series. Where she just literally happens to arrive as the enemy big bad is explaining plans. (And somehow gets away with it by hiding behind some crates or shit, I mean plot armor gonna plot armor but still, yikes.) Often, she hears just enough of the guy's plan to go 'ok they're crazy' lol

 

[Insolent Lad]

A lot of older stories used the monologue as a convenient way to explain the plot to the audience. Sometimes it’s theatrical, sometimes it feels artificial.

Yes, it works great (at least sometimes) on the stage where a character is explaining his inner thoughts not to another character but to the audience. We can use the interior monologue for that but stories these days rarely do an omniscient peek inside the villain's head.