A Lifetime of Happiness: Movies, TV, and Video Games

Royal Blue Cobweb and All

• Steve Bennet-Martin, Stephen Martin-Bennet • Season 1 • Episode 183

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The Steves discuss their summer movie marathon of "Red, White, and Royal Blue", "Bones and All", and "Cobweb", along with what's making them happy today!

Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.

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Steve:

Hello, returning Happys and new listeners. This is Steven Bennett Martin. And this is Steven

Stephen:

Martin Bennett. And welcome and welcome to, to a Lifetime of Happiness,

Steve:

the podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, shows, and other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy, while hopefully bring a smell to your face along the way. And

Stephen:

today it's all about summer movies as we discuss Amazon Primes, red White and Royal Blue Bones and all and as well as the movie

Steve:

Cobwebs. Yes. And before we get into all of those movies that we all, that we watched together in all of one evening. Yes. What else has been making us happy?

Stephen:

For me it was bumper cars go-kart riding and arcade

Steve:

games. And funny thing, we did all three of those. Things at once. Well, we weren't playing arcade games while on the go-kart, but it was at the same location for our friend's party. We went to one of our local arcades and had a really good time and the bumper

Stephen:

car spun around in circles. Yes. That was really,

Steve:

really cool. Yeah, and I love how, you know, we chose the location because our friend has children who are tweens that are the age where arcades are the place you go on Friday nights. But it worked out just how much the adults, you know that in our thirties and forties were just having the time of our life playing the arcade games too. We were doing ski

Stephen:

ball in that, shooting the basketball game and then trying to knock down the clowns, throwing baseballs, and of course the lesbian beat both of us. Well, of course she did. What about you, my darling? What's making you happy?

Steve:

I would say for the first time in probably six plus months, I took a mental day health. Day off from work the other day and it was very nice just taking a day off for no other reason than I was tired.

Stephen:

That is absolutely fantastic. I fully support mental health days, anything people need to do for their mental health. So bravo to you. I. Yes.

Steve:

And something that also helped my mental health was we watched these three movies and two of the three were awesome.

Stephen:

So we won't tell you ahead of time which one wasn't. You'll have to figure

Steve:

out if we sandwiched it in the middle or led with it or ended with it. Yep. First up though, and let's start with red,

Stephen:

white, and royal Blue. Yes. It's based on the 2019 novel by Casey McQuiston. Red White, and Royal Blue is Matthew Lopez's feature film directorial debut, and is produced by Greg Ante, who does so many good things. Sarah Schechter and was released on Amazon Prime on August 11th, 2023.

Steve:

Yes, the film Stars Taylor's car Perez. Is Alex the first son who falls in love with his rival Nicholas G as Prince Henry?

Stephen:

Yes. And. What was your thought on the

Steve:

setup of this? When I heard the setup I was like, okay, Dennis recommended this in like our Gem in the Holograms episode or something as a book. Because

Stephen:

he had just read the book. Yeah.

Steve:

Over a year ago probably. So I love the setup. It's very cliche. It's very though like cliche for a reason because people love those types of movies. I mean, we love watching a Prince fall in love. I mean,

Stephen:

we've seen the, the

Steve:

Christmas Prince. Yeah. And all those

Stephen:

movies. So I was like, and The Princess Bride. I was like that. That's the movie I love. I was gonna say, so I

Steve:

mean the, the Straits love a royal romance and so do the queers apparently.'cause this was a very fun

Stephen:

setup and it worked really well. And can I also mention how much I love Uma Thurman as the female president with a Tennessee Williams draw? And yeah. Like this, so this was a

Steve:

better world or a better universe. Right. And I

Stephen:

also love, like so the first son is bisexual because we see him talking about a relationship he had with a scandalous reporter. Mm-hmm. And, but we also see all these women falling all over him. His parents don't know about the bisexuality. When he finally did have to come out, you're wondering, what's the president gonna say? And all she said was, we're gonna need some pizza. And then they had this wonderful talk and it was lovely and like it's nice that the most powerful person in the world took it so well.

Steve:

Yeah. Well, I mean, did you buy their romance?'cause I mean, 100% yes. Was it the chemistry of the actors?

Stephen:

It was the chemistry of the actors. It was also their shared understanding of the constraints they have had to live under how they were born, where they were born, what their families did. And you know, even if it had just been a buddy movie, it would've been you're an island in the storm type of thing that like you understand what I'm going through. But beyond that, it was also lack you.

Steve:

I know. And what would it mean to like the real world if we lived in a world where the first sun and the prince. Fell in love.

Stephen:

We would probably need a world where we elected a president who was not in their seventies. And the closest we had to, that was when Obama was there. But when Obama was in the office, the girls weren't old enough to be falling. Oh. Could you have imagined though, if one of the Obama girls ended up marrying Harry, the one that can marry anybody he wants. Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. That would've been amazing.

Steve:

Yes. Now with this and Heart Stopper, which we covered last week has one of the two male leads in this romance being bisexual. Do you feel that this is to increase by visibility or to straighten up our game movies? So with

Stephen:

Heart Stopper, I think it was by vi visibility because they weren't shying away from Ace. Trans anything. I think that was, Hey, we're saying that buy is legit. Yes. As well. Like I bought that. Mm-hmm. With this, I'm of two minds. Yeah. So it might be to straighten up a gay movie for mass market audiences. Mm-hmm. Or when I thought about it more, it does add some complexity to the plot because the prints. Would've been more hesitant and confused, thinking that the first son was straight, seeing him kiss all those women and having seen nothing different. And you know, the first son does come off a little because he's from Texas, so he is a little more rough and tumble. So maybe he is straight. So I can see how him being bi. Works with this story, but I'm also not giving them full credit that they weren't trying to straighten up the story a little bit.

Steve:

Yeah, I would love it if we get to the point we're in these types of movies, they're like, actor, what do you identify as? And if the actor's like, I'm gay, they're like, great, you're gay. And if the actor's like, I'm bisexual, they're like, great, you're bisexual. So especially like if it doesn't ultimately at the end of the day impact the plot.

Stephen:

Funny thing. So lots and lots of people watch this movie this weekend. Yes. Lots of straight girls were commenting on Twitter. That sex scene had to be imaginary. They can't do missionary. And so then you have all of these gays explaining to them how gay men can do missionary position looking at each other. And all these women are like, Wow. Mind blown. Oh,

Steve:

sweeties. Now, why do you think that we love movies like this that make, because obviously this movie made us happy, we enjoyed it, we recommend it. It's free in streaming if you have Amazon Prime and if you don't have Amazon Prime, your mom, or your cousin, or your brother does, and what are you doing with your life? Yes. So check it out. It's well worth the admission, but why do we love these types of movies? So it's

Stephen:

escapism. Yes, it's the fantasy of it all. It's why on soap operas, most of the people come from money because they're able to go to these parties and wear these clothes and do these activities and fly these jets. There's glamor and it's those things that 98% of America can't do. And we'd like to see people that we can root for doing those things.'cause most of the people we see doing those things are awful and we hate them. Yeah. So it's nice to have people that were like, oh, I like you. It's okay if you go to this party. Dress like

Steve:

that. Yeah. Yeah. I enjoyed it and definitely check it out. Now let's move on to Bones and All, which is a 2022 romantic horror film directed by, that's what

Stephen:

it's called. I, I know, I know. It's just romantic horror

Steve:

film. Horror film directed by Luca Guino, based on the 2015 Novel by Camille d Angelus. The movie was not successful with the budget of 16 to$20 million in a box office of 14.5 million, which means it lost money, which like rarely, many of these movies we cover lose money even if they're not hits. Yeah, but the film was just recently released on Amazon Prime, so maybe it'll grow a new life in a cult following. Who knows? The film is a love story following two young cannibals on a journey of self-discovery across the United States.

Stephen:

So there was a band in the eighties called Fine Young Cannibals. Yeah. And so when you were reading that, I was like, two young cannibals. I was like, fine. Young cannibals. Well, you have

Steve:

the answer for a question I'll have for you later then. But, so how did this movie perform as a love story? Okay,

Stephen:

I, I wanna get to that in a minute. Sure.$20 million budget. Where? I don't know. I don't see it because, okay. Was

Steve:

it for Timothy

Stephen:

Shaima? It must have been because do you know what the budget for Halloween 2018 was what?$20 million?

Steve:

Yeah. This doesn't look like they did the same budget. No,

Stephen:

that's what I'm talking about. Like I thought this was an independent film. That's major studio money. Mm-hmm. They must okay. But as a love story. Honestly, surprisingly well as a love story. It was not the movie I thought I was going to

Steve:

be watching. What did you think you were gonna be watching?

Stephen:

A, from the trailer? A story of a girl who is afflicted with something that makes her accountable and discovering that and running from and hiding from these people that also have the thing. And those elements are in there, but what it is that it about, it's a cannibalistic love story. That's honestly what it is.

Steve:

Yes. And now you laughed when I called it a romantic horror film. Would you consider this a horror film? Technically

Stephen:

it has to be because of the subject material. Just like Silence of the Lambs. Some people are like, that's not a horror film. I'm like, trust me, that's a horror film. This is a horror film. There's no way you can have a movie. With the cannibalism that was involved in the different things and not call it some form of horror because it's not because of the scares.'cause there weren't any, there had potential for scares. Two of those characters were terrifying, but they didn't go as far as they could with it. But maybe that's not the story they wanted to tell. I don't know. Was it, do you think it was a horror film?

Steve:

Again, like because of the subject matter, but it's a horror film that like I, if, if we ever had brain surgery that made us feel like we wanted to have kids, I wouldn't feel an issue having an eight year old or a nine year old watch this because of cannibalism. Right. If

Stephen:

they changed it from cannibalism to.

Steve:

Like if they call, if they change it to vampirism, it would've been the next twilight in terms of being able to be shiny happy people, or? I was

Stephen:

gonna say that it was only about people that they have a gluten allergy, like if you replace the thing with a gluten allergy, It'd be the same story. Pretty much,

Steve:

yes. Well, did you buy the chemistry between Taylor Russell as Marin and Timothy Chalamet as Lee? No,

Stephen:

absolutely not. I thought it felt very flat and emotionless. The only part that I bought later on was when they were going to the university together. Yeah. And it was just cute and they were having this life The people that had the most emotion in the movie were that first character that she ran into. Sully. Yep. Sully. The guy in the woods. That was honestly scary. Yes. And my friend Burgess, who played the nurse and Chloe 70, those scenes had the only emotion in the film. The rest felt so flat. And before you respond, I do wanna say, it was so cool, I'm watching this movie and then

Steve:

it's someone, you know. I would be amazed too, it happened when we were watching or when I was watching Manifest the final season. Yes. And I realized I knew someone from, it's exciting when you see people you know, and I had

Stephen:

no idea that Burgess was in it, but I heard her voice and I was like, Bird. That's bird. And you're like, okay, who's bird? And I was like my friend Burgess.

Steve:

Yes. Yeah. Now there one thing that I loved about this film or the concept is that the idea that the people that we run into on a daily basis, that we kind of give us that creepy vibe or that ick factor, that like that magnetic pull that pushes us away from this individual is kind of a sign that they're an eater or like this world's version of a cannibal. That's

Stephen:

better than what I usually think of those people.

Steve:

There we go. Yeah. No, I, I definitely think it's an interesting concept that like you're repelled against these people because there is something fundamentally different or wrong from them. Yeah. And how does the title work? I was getting really excited for how the movie might end when they explained that the concept of bones and all in a cannibal love story is exactly what you would think of, which would be the bliss that you experience when you devour everything and you eat everything, bones and all. And that

Stephen:

means nras, colon sphincter, like bones. Like they say bones and all. Yeah. So you're talking so Bones. Bones and all like Yeah. You're talking about I'm eating your ribcage, but don't forget I just ate your colon. Yeah.

Steve:

Now, I mean, once you get over the logistical difficulties of how one human could fit another human inside of their body. Yeah. Like in their stomach. What do you feel like that, how does this work for this movie and this plot? So as a title,

Stephen:

the title does add something to it. Like the whole question, if you were stranded somewhere and your friend died, would you eat them to survive? And most people would say yes, that they would eat the person to survive. They might not like it, but to survive. But eating the bones and all, that's not about survival. That's something else entirely. That's something darker. And I wish they had explored more of that instead of that being, well, we think that's what she did at the end of the movie, we think, but we don't know how, but we don't know. And so the. It kind of feels like a cheat.

Steve:

Yeah. I, I hope she got to experience it, but it didn't look like she was very happy about it. I don't know. I, who knows. So at the end of these three, can you tell which one of us made us the least happy?

Stephen:

Well, seeing as we haven't even gotten to the third one yet. I'm gonna go ahead and tell you all. It was this one. Yes, it was. So

Steve:

it didn't make us happy. Do I regret the hour and a half? I've done worse things or watched worse content, but absolutely. I wouldn't go out of the way to watch it. If you're looking for horror or if you're looking for romance, if you're looking for a horror romance with cannibals, with cannibals. Then go for it. But you also probably, if you were one of the$14 million worth of people that felt that way before, you probably already saw it. So let's move on to a new horror movie that everyone is talking about.

Stephen:

Cobweb. Cobweb is a 2023 American horror thriller film directed by Samuel Boden in his directorial debut. Bravo. Based off the screenplay by Chris Thomas, dev Thomas Devlin, the Man behind the most recent Texas Chainsaw movie you either loved or hated. I loved it. I did too. And the film had a limited theatrical release. Well, on July 21st, 2023, before it was released on video on demand services everywhere. Friday, August 11th. Now, I want to comment on this for a moment because it's almost like. The Hocus Pocus Dilemma. Hocus Pocus is a beloved Halloween film that was released in the summer when it came out, and it tanked this movie being released on July 21st in the midst of Barb Heimer. Yes. Could the studio have done better about releasing at some other time?

Steve:

Possibly. But I think anything against SS Barbie Heimer would've been hard. I also feel like it's not like this was too halloweeny. It's short, it took place on Halloween. At Halloween. Yeah. You know, and had a jacko near the climax and all of that. But I would when this, this Halloween, when we're trying to rewatch the Halloween movies that make us scary. Yeah. And happy. I wouldn't call this a Halloween movie vibe, would you?

Stephen:

I don't know. It's definitely on my, I will watch it again.

Steve:

List. Well, yeah, for sure. I mean, this is from, Ooh, the film follows Woody Norman as Peter, a young boy with a mysterious knocking sound coming from his walls at night, who is being gaslit by his parents, Lizzie Kaplan as Carol and Home Lander, A K Anthony Star as Mark.

Stephen:

So when we were watching this, I said, You realize that Lizzie Kaplan is Janice Ian from Mean

Steve:

Girls? It, I didn't realize it until like, oh, they were doing more of her when she was getting hysterical. Yeah, because her hysterical voice, I was like, it's Janice, Ian getting married at

Stephen:

her. But like in some of the beginning things, You're like, damn, Lizzie Kaplan has

Steve:

range. It's like, damn, we're also all getting old. And with Homeland, it took me a moment to realize it was Homeland, but I'm like, he's a dark hair, but it's like, I know I don't like him and that he clearly is evil. And then I'm like, oh, okay. It's Homeland. Makes sense. And that's,

Stephen:

that's what I said. I was like, I knew that I didn't like him as a person and I had to look it up. And once I saw it was Homeland, it was like,

Steve:

Yep. Yeah. Tracks. Now from the minds behind Bar Barbarian, if like us, you enjoyed the barbarian, do you think you would enjoy this film?

Stephen:

I 100%. There's always room for some absurdity in horror if the acting performances can sell it. Like what was malignant. Malignant was another horror movie that swung for the fences, took big risks, and I think paid off. So just like that, and in barbarian the acting performances here, absolutely steal it because not only is Lizzie or Lizzie Kaplan and Anthony Starr great as the parents, Woody Norman as the child. Does a great

Steve:

job. Yeah, does a great job for a kid. Yeah. Or just in general. And because it is very new and because everyone is talking, but we won't get into explicit spoilers. Yeah. But I would say of the two main concepts, one of them revolves around the ways that parents compare cell billings. Were you able to relate to that at all?

Stephen:

Yeah. I was the golden child. I saw how my brother got punished for misbehaving, so I made sure to do the opposite. But then that also led to whenever my anxiety reared its ugly head, I had to be perfect in all the things I did. But that's a whole discussion for another podcast. It's true.

Steve:

But yeah, I experienced that and it wasn't even that, like one of us was better than the other on everything, but my parents were constantly, Comparing each other. You know, if it was that I wasn't as good at art, it was that, well, your brother's better at art. Why can't you be good at art? If it was that I wanted to, to play video or like that, I was better with school, they were, they would guilt him about not being as good at school with me. But if it was sports, They would be guilting me about not being as good as him. It was always a competition, but my parents were the coaches of that competition and eventually my brother and I just didn't wanna play. Yeah. Barry was

Stephen:

the sports. I was the student.

Steve:

Yes. And the other theme that this shares with Barbarian and a lot of these movies that they're making, like is the concept that sometimes people are just naturally born monsters, and in these cases it's literally. Like, what do you think first of the making that figurative concept? Literal

Stephen:

100%. I think some people are just born evil. I don't think when we're talking about this level that it's something you learn. Like I always say, racism is not born. It's learn learned. It is taught to you. You are taught to hate with this type of thing. This is something you're born with. You have to be predisposed to it. Mm-hmm.

Steve:

Yeah. And yeah, I, I certainly agree. I know that, you know, you could say if someone was born as a sociopath right in, in this world, that, you know, even if they were in the middle of a jungle raised by wolves, that they would be just a sociopathic and murderous as if they were raised by two loving parents in a overprivileged white household. Yes. In Connecticut. Like, but do you think though, if someone were to, in this case, in this universe of films, be born physically a monster, do you think that naturally means that the innately they have that same monstrous pregnancy? No. So

Stephen:

I think if someone were born disfigured, I don't think they'd be inclined to evil. But you could go on that way, on how you were treated. Like are, is it a the people under the stairs type of situation where the parents brought that out or is it, or, or they were bullied and humiliated? Or is it someone that's just disfigured and they live a lonely, sheltered life? I mean, I think,

Steve:

but So do you think in this movie there's an alternate reality where Big Sis is just running around playing hopscotch with her hair in the backyard? No, not

Stephen:

this girl. No. I think, I think in this one, it's inside and out. It's inside and out. She was born dark like that, and she could have had the best parents, but she's going to be headed down. A path of darkness. I mean, and she didn't get the best parents. Spoiler alert. No. On the other side of that my favorite book. Good Omens. Yeah. So you have Damien the hell spawn given to the best parents ever. Yeah. And he's like, well, I don't want to end the world. Yeah. So I guess maybe even if you're predisposed for it, maybe you might not ever get

Steve:

there. Yes. Well, we already said that you're gonna watch it again. So I would say it's worth the$6 of on demand rentals for a good United Oh,

Stephen:

absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it's less than one movie ticket. Yeah. You watch it in the comfort of your home. Do it. It's a good time. And. Lizzie Kaplan's performance alone sells the movie. Yeah,

Steve:

it was very, very good, so I definitely enjoyed it. Now we are currently watching Witcher season three, so expect an update on that real soon. But in the meantime, let us know your thoughts on any of these movies or what else we should check out by emailing us at Happy Life pod@gmail.com.

Stephen:

Or you can get in touch with us on the socials, whether that is Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. And happy Life

Steve:

Pod and until next time, everybody, stay. Stay happy.