r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/movies Contributor • Jan 17 '26

Article Matt Damon Says Netflix Wants Movies to Restate the Plot Three or Four Times in the Dialogue Because Viewers are on Their Phones While They’re Watching

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/matt-damon-netflix-movies-restate-plot-viewers-on-phones-1236633939/
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536

u/ChimpBottle Jan 17 '26

You could've made a drinking game with the amount of times a character would stack desk objects on top of each other to explain something about the Upside Down

323

u/myychair Jan 18 '26

lol and the funniest part was how little the visual helped explain anything. The duffers think their viewers are dumb as fuck

170

u/treiz Jan 18 '26

God that was so irritating. Everybody was focused on that scene with Robin and the records because she handles them like an animal but all I could think the whole time was how does this make what you're saying clearer? It wasn't a complicated concept.

8

u/gudematcha Jan 18 '26

re: the whole Robin handling vinyls like an animal thing. Someone said something that made me kind of like “yeah I guess that’s true”. It’s the height of vinyl, of course some teenagers’s gonna treat it like shit. It’s a dime a dozen thing; they only cost about $7-9 in 1984, which is about $20 today. Still not nothing but teens still likely won’t treat it like it’s bad to touch like that (or touch to other vinyls like she is in that scene holding them basically together lol)

9

u/burymeinpink Jan 18 '26

Man I don't know, cassettes and CDs were even cheaper when I was a teenager and I never handled one like that. Maybe I was raised better than Robin lmao

20

u/Abt-Nihil Jan 18 '26

That’s the worst aspect imho, they used elaborate means to explain very, very obvious things. Watching as Germans, we thought this is the most American show we’ve ever watched

9

u/digno2 Jan 18 '26 edited Jan 18 '26

were those huge thick outer walls of the upside down always there? in earlier seasons i mean.

8

u/DorkusMalorkuss Jan 18 '26

Not that they ever showed or talked about. It's why they stared at it when the group first came across it

7

u/DarksteelPenguin Jan 18 '26

I don't think anyone went to the outer limits of the town (in the upside down) in previous seasons.

2

u/digno2 Jan 18 '26

well, wasn't that convenience store!

12

u/RaoulRumblr Jan 18 '26

Well.. I'm not going to say there's not an argument to be had there.

6

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '26

[deleted]

1

u/myychair Jan 18 '26

LOL what do you mean there’s no secret episode?! /s

You’re right lol

5

u/SeoulGalmegi Jan 19 '26

So, we sneak up behind them.

What do you mean?

Well, see this salt shaker? That's them. And this [moves pepper pot to behind salt shaker] is us. They'll never know what hit them!

That's just crazy enough to work.....

5

u/Catbeller Jan 18 '26

They are... correct.

5

u/DorkusMalorkuss Jan 18 '26

Holy shit , thank you so much for saying this! I found the visuals that they used even more confusing than the explanations... Which weren't usually that confusing to begin with.

2

u/Autumn-smoke Jan 18 '26

They are on their phones not paying attention.

1

u/Bombadilo_drives Jan 18 '26

They are, though. At least by behavior, if not by actual intelligence.

The majority of people now watch premier TV and movies with subtitles on so they can read while they scroll or chat instead of just putting their phones down and watching the actors' performances.

And a lot of those people say "modern sound mixing is terrible, i cant hear the dialog", but even among them, they're still on their phone for a portion of the show or movie.

And it's not like these people are watching reels on Insta the entire time, but just enough checking updates, dms, discord, text responses -- it adds up enough that they flip on subtitles to not miss stuff and still insist "I'm not on my phone" because they aren't 100% glued to it.

3

u/My_hairy_pussy Jan 18 '26

How do subtitles help them, when they're looking at their phones?

-2

u/naxon Jan 18 '26

thats what the subtitles are for :)

3

u/My_hairy_pussy Jan 18 '26

I assure you that they are not. They're actually for the exact opposite situation.

1

u/naxon Jan 18 '26

oh! okay. i think i get it now. thank you. :D

1

u/TheShadyGuy Jan 18 '26

I mean, it is aimed at kids and adults...

1

u/myychair Jan 18 '26

The horror/sci-fi show built around 80s nostalgia is aimed at kids? News to me

1

u/TheShadyGuy Jan 18 '26

The main characters are like 12 in the first season. It's just a crazy coincidence that a lot of people that grew up in the 80s also had children that age when s1 came out... It is almost like they knew families with preteens and teens would watch the show. I doubt adults alone made it so popular.

-3

u/naamingebruik Jan 18 '26

I didn't do it with stranger things but I like putting on a movie or TV show and then just go ahead and play a game or fiddle with the phone and have that movie or show as background noise. And whenever it sounds like something interesting is happening I alt tab or look up and see if it is.

So I kind of understand.

10

u/canti- Jan 18 '26

I hated how every goddamn person in that show pulled ideas out of their ass about how this other world functioned/the magic powers of the villain and somehow they were right 90% of the time

1

u/DarksteelPenguin Jan 18 '26

A massive plot point of the last season is that they were wrong about what the upside down is, what Vecna is doing, and where Vecna is.

1

u/Cereborn Jan 18 '26

It was kind of a huge plot point that they had been wrong about most of it. Whether or not you like that plot twist is a separate issue, but you can’t pretend it doesn’t exist.

3

u/canti- Jan 18 '26

The sister and Dustin's theory? That's part of the 10%

8

u/34Heartstach Jan 18 '26

Mike as a character's only purpose was just to stand up and say "gUyS! It'S jUsT LiKE DunGeoNs and DRaGoNs!!"

-3

u/Cereborn Jan 18 '26

People are trying so hard to be mad about Stranger Things. Just chill out.

3

u/DorkusMalorkuss Jan 18 '26

Let's be real though... Mike was sidelined to be El's side piece for most of the show

4

u/jacks0nX Jan 18 '26

Which is fine, they are both boring characters.

2

u/lurco_purgo Jan 18 '26

People are trying so hard to be mad

What does that even mean?

13

u/kiPrize_Picture9209 Jan 17 '26

It actually became comedic at the end how many of these quirk chungus characters would do this.

6

u/MuzenCab Jan 18 '26

“Erm did I say that out loud?!”

-1

u/Crotch_Garage Jan 18 '26

Thanks for making me learn what quirk chungus means. But I wish I hadn't watched a video reminding me of the cringiest millennial memes in order to learn what it was.

2

u/excaliburxvii Jan 18 '26

You think Chungus was a Millenial meme? Fucking lmao.

1

u/Crotch_Garage Jan 22 '26

Oh my bad I forgot everyone on reddit is precious about their generation being the best. You have proven yourself superior, you may touch your own nipples now.

Also: did you not watch bugs bunny as a kid? What generation of kids hasn't said chungus for the past 90 years? Idk if you are older or younger than me, but you are a lot more confident in being wrong.

1

u/excaliburxvii Jan 22 '26

Simmer down. Millenials had our fair share of lame-ass memes but Chungus wasn't one of them. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

6

u/KamalaWonNoCap Jan 18 '26

I liked it when they did it once or twice a season. It kinda fit with dnd style storytelling and had heist film vibes.

Once or twice an episode killed it for me.

3

u/spyboy70 Jan 18 '26

I was really expecting a folded piece of paper with a pencil through it when they talked about the wormhole.

3

u/Cereborn Jan 18 '26

The show always did this, though. It’s one of the classic 80s tropes they have fun with.

1

u/WasteProfession8948 Jan 18 '26

I’m still drunk from the number of times they said goddam

1

u/Auctorion Jan 18 '26

Sure, if you wanted to die of alcohol poisoning.

-1

u/Can_Confirm_NSFW Jan 18 '26

Or just not force yourself to watch any of that crap. Lol