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Musings from the cultural universe…

Fancy Meeting You Here

Rebecca Deniston
·
April 27, 2022
Fancy Meeting You Here

Hello, friends and former strangers. Whoever you are, it’s nice to see you. For those who may not know me, I’m Rebecca Deniston, a wife and mother living in Placer County, California. For the last six years I’ve been blogging on my site, Taking Up Room

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Eight Tips For Watching Chinese 'Star Wars' Bootlegs

Rebecca Deniston
·
May 4, 2022
Eight Tips For Watching Chinese 'Star Wars' Bootlegs

Yeah, I’m a Star Wars fan. No, I’m not going to rank the movies, at least not this year (For the record, though, my favorite is Empire Strikes Back). Actually, I want to talk about what one might want to do should one be tempted to watch those atrocious Chinese

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My Top Ten (Less Cliched) Classics

Rebecca Deniston
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May 11, 2022
My Top Ten (Less Cliched) Classics

Monday is National Classic Movie Day, and film geeks everywhere are gearing up for a celebration. Picking a favorite movie, though, is pretty tough. To paraphrase Bert Lahr’s immortal Potato Chip Man, “Betcha can’t choose just one.” In that spirit, here are some of my favorites, and yes, I had to make a lot …

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Why I Don't Review New Disney Stuff

Rebecca Deniston
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May 18, 2022
Why I Don't Review New Disney Stuff

This might seem like a downer post for my first regular month of articles, but I thought I should clarify this topic up front for those who may come to Taking Up More Room from Substack and naturally won’t have the background for my postion. I try to be positive and even-handed as much as I can, but that obviously isn’t

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My Top Seven So-Bad-They're-Good Movies

Rebecca Deniston
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July 2, 2022
My Top Seven So-Bad-They're-Good Movies

There’s nothing quite like a so-bad-it’s-good movie, is there? They can’t be graded on the same scale as a regular movie because they’re in a class by themselves. Unintentionally and unavoidably cringe-y and hilarious, these films make every good film great and every great film sublime by comparison. We know we should b…

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Five Anne Frank Movies (And One Documentary)

Rebecca Deniston
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July 6, 2022
Five Anne Frank Movies (And One Documentary)

It’s eighty years ago today since Anne Frank went into hiding. Eighty years since she piled on layers and layers of clothing, strapped on her school backpack, and trudged through the rain to her hiding place, leaving behind freedom, her bed, her home, and everything she knew for a physically caging existence over her…

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The Sell Job: Watching Old Movies With Kids

Rebecca Deniston
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August 10, 2022
The Sell Job: Watching Old Movies With Kids

One of the things we who write about classic film, whether we’re bloggers or otherwise, get asked alllllll the time is, “How do I get my kids to watch old movies?” This is totally understandable. Kids’ content is not what it used to be, streaming services can be unreliable as far as recommendations go (

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Don't Start None, Won't Be None

Rebecca Deniston
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September 10, 2022
Don't Start None, Won't Be None

Robert Duvall once said that a lot of people in Hollywood don’t know when to keep their mouths shut, and he couldn’t have been more correct. I thought I was done talking about Rings of Power and Hollywood’s dogged toxicity (for now, at least), but that was before I saw this:

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My Top Ten Silent Movies

Rebecca Deniston
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September 28, 2022
My Top Ten Silent Movies

Who else likes silent movies? Judging by the numerous eyeballs looking at my review of The Melies Mystery (thanks heaps, all of you!) I’m guessing a lot. Silents can be so cool, right? They work a different part of the brain because for one thing, they can’t be watched with one eye on the smartphone. Not very much, anyway…

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Steven Crowder's Actions May Hurt Independent Content Creators (And Here's Why)

Rebecca Deniston
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January 25, 2023
Steven Crowder's Actions May Hurt Independent Content Creators (And Here's Why)

I wasn’t going to comment about what’s going on with Steven Crowder and the Daily Wire because it has nothing to do with film; however, after thinking about it and listening to Tim Pool’s Monday podcast, there are some things I’d like to get off my chest. It’s not so much about the situation, although I’ll give a few thoughts about that, but th…

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How "Jezebel" Changed Bette Davis's Career

Rebecca Deniston
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February 1, 2023
How "Jezebel" Changed Bette Davis's Career

It’s pretty easy to consider 1938’s Jezebel a sort of Gone With the Wind-lite. The movie came out two years after the Margaret Mitchell book, it’s an antebellum story about a flirty bad girl who has to get wise to herself, there’s a major crisis, and the music is written by Max Steiner. It was the film that made Bette Davis a huge star and secu…

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Ten Oscar Recs From My Favorite Film Decade

Rebecca Deniston
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March 11, 2023
Ten Oscar Recs From My Favorite Film Decade

Who’s watching the Oscars? I’m not, although I am rooting for Austin Butler, plus everyone connected with Elvis and Top Gun: Maverick, so it seems odd that I’m writing anything about them. (On a side note, has anyone asked Mother Delores what she thinks of

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"A Small Light" May Be Deeply Insulting And Revisionist: A Trailer Reaction

Rebecca Deniston
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April 8, 2023
"A Small Light" May Be Deeply Insulting And Revisionist: A Trailer Reaction

We all know by now that when press releases talk about a new film making a story relevant “for modern sensibilities,” there’s a good chance that the new film may be woke. It’s so inevitable nowadays for wokeness to at least attempt to slime into everything that it’s almost normal, except that it never is, which is why a lot of people have w…

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One Year Later: A Recap (Kinda)

Rebecca Deniston
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April 26, 2023
One Year Later: A Recap (Kinda)

As of tomorrow, it’ll be exactly one year since I started this Substack. How in the world do I commemorate the occasion? I need something clever. Something profound. Something funny. Something people will associate only with Taking Up More Room. Meh, no pressure there, right?

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"Shiny Happy People" and My Experience with the IBLP

Rebecca Deniston
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June 3, 2023
"Shiny Happy People" and My Experience with the IBLP

Not many people are indifferent to the Duggars. Since Josh Duggar’s troubles with the law began the family’s carefully cultivated public image has taken major hits, and naturally inquiring minds want to know the real story. While Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets

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Those Other Oz Movies

Rebecca Deniston
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August 26, 2023
Those Other Oz Movies

As of August 25th of next year, it’ll be eighty-five years since audiences first went to Oz with Judy Garland and company. The 1939 film wasn’t the first Oz movie ever made and it certainly won’t be the last, although I hope it will always be the most beloved.

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5 Movies I Missed In 2023 (And 5 I'm Looking Forward To In 2024)

Rebecca Deniston
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January 6, 2024
5 Movies I Missed In 2023 (And 5 I'm Looking Forward To In 2024)

2023 was a pretty good year for movies, although not great for box office returns, but we all know no one has time or money to see everything. Plus it always seems as if the most interesting stuff goes everywhere but our local screens. Who can relate? I lost count of how many times I would find something fun on Fandango, only to see that it was being sh…

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The Art of the Shameless Plug

Rebecca Deniston
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January 20, 2024
The Art of the Shameless Plug

When I went to see Mean Girls on Tuesday, it became immediately apparent that e.l.f. Cosmetics had given them money. Quite a bit of money. And they were pretty shameless about it. So shameless, in fact, that before the movie started there was a trailer for what seemed to be a very tongue-in-cheek mockudrama called

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Why I'm Not Leaving Substack For the Foreseeable Future (And An Answer to Casey Newton)

Rebecca Deniston
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January 30, 2024
Why I'm Not Leaving Substack For the Foreseeable Future (And An Answer to Casey Newton)

There’s been some talk lately about Substack supposedly allowing pro-Nazi, white supremacist, and right-wing extremist content to flourish on its platform, and certain publishers have made the decision to leave out of moral obligation. I received one such post

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Year Two and What's Next

Rebecca Deniston
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May 1, 2024
Year Two and What's Next

It’s been two years, all. Well, over two years because I first put my “Coming Soon” post up on April 26, 2022, but who’s counting, right? Yeesh, Taking Up More Room’s second year has been pretty wild. (Keep reading for a special offer at the end of the post.)

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Six Shark Movies On Tubi

Rebecca Deniston
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July 13, 2024
Six Shark Movies On Tubi

It’s the last day of Shark Week, and if anyone hasn’t gotten their fill of these toothy creatures, they’ve come to the right place.

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The Night Audiences First Saw "Gone With the Wind"

Rebecca Deniston
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September 7, 2024
The Night Audiences First Saw "Gone With the Wind"

When was the last time we as an audience really looked forward to a movie hitting theaters? The Lord of the Rings movies were pretty huge. Star Wars movies, of course, were guaranteed once upon a time. What remains to be seen, though, is whether people will still be talking about when and whe…

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Five Christmas Movies That Color Outside the Lines

Rebecca Deniston
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December 25, 2024
Five Christmas Movies That Color Outside the Lines

Merry Christmas! We all know the standard Christmas movie formula employed by such names as Hallmark, Netflix, and Lifetime. A city slicker who’s at a crossroads goes home to their idyllic small town, only to learn something is amiss, and they make use of their newfound savvy to find some solution. There may or may not be a reconnection with an old flam…

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