New releases that look interesting

New releases that I read about today on RogerEbert.com to add to my "To See" and "Maybe" lists:

Documentaries

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Friedkin Uncut (documentary)
3 stars by Matt Zoller Seitz. With lots of interviews.

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (documentary)
2.5 stars by Nick Allen. Looks interesting, with interviews with Flea, Herbie Hancock, and others.

Drama/Comedy

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Hot Air
Only two stars by Nick Allen, but looks like it could be interesting, about a right wing talk show host (played by Steve Coogan). Judith Light plays a Senator.

Brittany Runs a Marathon
Three stars by Monica Castillo. About a first-time marathon runner (Jillian Bell).

Note: Out there in The Dark blogged about this movie recently, and a friend of mine saw it and recommended it.

Give Me Liberty
2.5 stars by Matt Fagerholm. "An unpatronizing portrayal of people with disabilities"; the lead is a medical transport driver.


Thrillers/Horror

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Burn
2.5 stars by Brian Tallerico. A single-setting thriller with Josh Hutcherson. "this is a film that kept me uncertain of what would happen next and affirms Gan as an interesting young filmmaker to watch."

Tigers are Not Afraid
3 stars by Brian Tallerico. Supposed to be del Toro-esque, set in a Mexican city with a gang of boys. In Spanish. Looks interesting.

Tone-Def
Only one star by Simon Abrams, but this look like it could be an interesting horror-comedy with an intergenerational twist. Robert Patrick and Amanda Crew.

The French Connection (1971)

Two NYPD narcotics cops - Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider (from Jaws) - track down drug dealers and a shipment of heroin from France.

Spanish actor Fernando Rey plays the heroin smuggler they're after.

I didn't always understood why this movie won so many Oscars and Best Picture, and thought it might have to do with the famous car chase scene.

But watching other cop films that were made before this, I can see how different a film this is in comparison, and how it influenced later films.

I watched this film in college as part of a film appreciation course I took during my Senior year.

This film was followed by a second movie 4 years later, "The French Connection II", which I haven't seen. (Also a TV-movie "Popeye Doyle" was made in 1986 and starred Ed O'Neill).

Peter Boyle was originally cast to play the lead, but turned it down because his agent thought the movie was going to be a failure.