The News: All-Positive Friday!

James Toback and Mike Tyson in Nick Jarecki's 2004 doc The Outsider

By S.T. VanAirsdale

As per tradition, some of today's more upbeat movie news of note from around New York:

--A Michael Musto double-dip reveals the latest about a couple of lovable eccentrics getting the documentary treatment in town. First up is Mike Tyson, a friend of filmmaker James Toback from way back and the subject of Toback's forthcoming -- wait for it -- Tyson. We've been hearing about the project off-and-on since 2005, but it looks like the wait may be over this year (at a festival near you, if I had to guess). Musto also gawked at Rush Limbaugh and Cindy Adams during this week's premiere of the HBO doc Bernard and Doris. I admit neither of these stories are especially upbeat but Musto's recounting is a great way to whittle away three minutes of your Friday.

--Oh, and here's another from Michael Koresky, who's been on a roll of late at Reverse Shot: "There's no accounting for taste ... but there should be some accounting for really poor taste. [Tom] O'Neil, take your sock-puppet mouth and googly eyes and finally go far, far away. Perhaps to that magical land of soaring digital kites, where boys learn how to be men, and men learn how to wear sticky beards." It's positive because it's true.

--And another! The outstanding Nation film critic Stuart Klawans is now contributing to Nextbook, with his (ahem) unorthodox take on Praying With Lior kicking things off today.

--Via the Tisch Film Review: Williamsburg is getting is an art house cinema. Anything that keeps those fuckers out of Manhattan is all right by me.

--And via Curbed: If you view only one New York street-vendor-culture exposé today, let it be this one:

Posted at February 1, 2008 11:28 AM