News Taffy

For the last six years, I have spent a week in January in Park City, Utah taking in the Sundance Film Festival. It is an action-packed week full of documentary films and premiers sandwiched in between some time on the slopes in Deer Valley and celebrity watching. The festival includes a huge selection of over 100 films to pick from ranging from light hearted comedies to really dark documentaries that leave you in tears.

The word on the street this year was that there was a whole lot of sex at Sundance. As it turns out, that was true. Don Jon’ Addiction set the tone for what really was a festival laced with a lot skin on skin action. The film opens with what I would guess is a triple x-rated sex scene from a pornographic movie. Joseph Gordon-Levitt writes, directs and stars in the film based around his character, New Jersey playboy Jon Martello. He is a modern day Don Juan, who is addicted to on-line porn. He soon finds himself romantically and physically involved with Scarlett Johansson. After realizing she is only interested in yanking his chain, so to speak, he leaves her to return to his first love - porn. A heart broken Juliane Moore infiltrates Gordon-Levitt’s world giving this intensely sexed up film a happy ending.

Afternoon Delight is just what you might imagine it would be! This film tackles the stale and lack luster life of Rachel, a thirty something year old married woman, played by Kathryn Hahn. Rachel is drowning in the monotony of what appears to be her perfect life of planning play dates for her son, volunteering time at school and dealing with the treasures and pitfalls of her perfect life. Through some strategically planned but not so fulfilling midday hook ups with her husband, Rachel decides to really shake things up a bit. After her husband buys her a lap dance in a strip club, Rachel later hires the stripper/sex worker as a live-in nanny proving to be problematic on many levels. Hahn shows you can indeed deliver some very important lines while wearing only nude, control top panty hose, a black bra and a pair of stilettos. Note to self - never EVER let your lover see you in a pair of control-top panty hose.

Between these two highly sexed up movies, I saw the following films and have included my very abbreviated thoughts on them.

Life According to Sam - be thankful for a healthy child
Running From Crazy - be thankful you are not a descendant of Ernest Hemingway
Manhunt, The Search for Osama bin Laden - be thankful your husband let you sleep while he went to see this film with your friend at 9 a.m.
After Tiller - be thankful for the Roe v. Wade decision
jOBS - be thankful for your iDevice so you can snap photos of eye candy Ashtyn Kutcher who plays Steve Jobs in the film

You can keep up with DJ’s adventures in the Big Apple and many other places by following her on Twitter @mrsdjduckworth and on Facebook. DJ is a contributing writer for New York Family magazine. She lives in Manhattan with her three boys - Mark, Corbin and Leo - woof, woof