Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) - 3/5

After a long and unnecessary preamble this movie eventually becomes exactly what its title promised. The fights are bashy, fun, and not nearly as dumb as the talky bits with the humans. The visuals aren’t as gorgeous as they were in the previous film, but here the fight choreography feels more grounded and brawly and less wide-shot cinematic. Fortunately the human plots are only cardboard pablum, not aggressively offensively stupid like King of Monsters and Skull Island, so it’s an improvement. The first 45 minutes are so completely disposable I recommend coming to the theater late to save yourself the boredom.

Closest comparison: It’s like Godzilla: King of Monsters and Kong: Skull Island got together to play Pacific Rim 2.

Setting: Exotic Adventure
Plot: Homeward Bound
Tone: Kaiju

Stranger Things, Season 3 (Netflix) - 3/5

This season of Stranger Things is a strange case of inconsistency. The direction, editing, and acting are all phenomenal, and the plot is better constructed and more memorable than season 2. The first six episodes are exciting and binge-worthy, but after that it starts going downhill fast. The show constantly portrays bullying and bickering as an integral part of natural, healthy relationships which is offensively tone-deaf, and it only gets worse in the last two episodes. Most of the intriguing build-up gets squashed by shoe-horned character moments and one blindingly out-of-place experiment in bathos whiplash (using comedy to cut dramatic tension) that grinds on painfully for the duration of an entire song. This season had the makings of something great, but the last two episodes drop it from an almost 5/5 to a mid-tier 3/5.

Closest comparison: It’s like a conglomeration of ‘80s pop horror movies with modern production values.

Setting: ‘80s Horror
Plot: Mystery Thriller
Tone: Pop Horror

Godzilla: King of the Monsters - 3/5

The monster visuals are gorgeous, and that’s certainly where they put their money. Unfortunately, the plot is very dumb and overly complicated, to the point that we don’t get to see monster stuff until about 50 minutes into the movie. The upshot is that the parts with humans fall back into the ‘so bad it’s good’ category, so if you like imitating Mystery Science Theater 3000 you’ll have something to do while you wait for the monster fights to start. Once the fighting starts it’s exciting and very entertaining, well worth the price of the ticket on its own, though it seems overly focused on giving the audience good PC desktop wallpapers.

Closest comparison: It’s better than Godzilla (2014), but not as good as Kong: Skull Island.

Setting: Kaiju Monster
Plot: Adventure
Tone: Action/Drama

Stanger Things: Season 2 (Netflix) - 4/5

The Duffer Brothers did it again! Season 2 is really good in so many of the ways the first one was: cinematography, writing, acting. The pacing wasn't as good (one episode, though iconic, didn't have a lot to do with the rest of the season), but they managed to subvert my expectations over and over again which is always important. The main flaw comes in the form of what they did with a certain character's story arc, which was just not ok (at the lab). All in all there's lots to like and it is a surprisingly good follow-up to the first season.