Friday marked the release of a new documentary film that takes a closer look at head injuries in sports. Inspired by the book “Head Games,” written by former Harvard football player and pro wrestler Christopher Nowinski, the movie examined concussions in all sports — contact and non-contact.

The film, which debuted in Los Angeles and New York as well as two major streaming websites, is receiving rave reviews from various media outlets. Also, the movie is getting a lot of press through interviews with director Steve James, who’s best known for directing the acclaimed basketball documentary “Hoop Dreams.”

* The Los Angeles Times praised the movie for its frank look at the issues and the people involved in head injuries.

This may sound like a straightforward science-on-the-march journey, but in fact this progression was a complicated one, and James does a fine job of leading us through the nuances of how it all went down.

* The Associated Press talked with James about the concussion problems in sports.

* CBSSports.com had a Q&A with James, mainly touching on the football implications of concussions.

* Yahoo! Sports’ hockey blog, “Puck Daddy,” grilled James about the link between concussions and fighting.

* Yahoo! Sports’ PostGame site called it the definitive movie on head injuries in American sports.

* And the film received very favorable reviews from Variety daily magazine and The Hollywood Reporter.

– Bill Bradley, contributing editor