Watch Dave Chappelle's Block Party For Free

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I take very seriously the whole process of consuming or taking part in artistic expression. Consequently, I also take very seriously the act of reviewing a movie feature, either with a rating on a website or with a written essay about it.If one cares to check my rating history, it's easy to realize I'm not one to give away 10 stars ratings that easily. Great movies which are universally praised haven't got it. To get a 10, a movie has to hit all the right notes with me."David Chappelle's Block Party" did it - but I'm not surprised. Only one director managed to get 4 of his movies rated 10 on my list. This means I'm putting Michel Gondry as the best director of all times, over the greats such as Tarantino, Gilliam, Kubrick, Hitchcock, Robert Wise, the Coen brothers and so many more, including Godard, Renoir or Scola.Those who know me are aware that I hate what I call "fanboyism" (i.e. the culture of idolatry) more than anything in life. I truly believe it's one of the most serious maladies of our times. But this guy knows how to shoot movies better than any other human being, so what can I say? The fact that he seems to avoid the temptation of becoming arrogant about his own success, and that this humility clearly shows on the way he writes his film-making history, it's evidence enough for me that what he has done should be an example for all others venturing in the crazy world of cinema.I also believe cinema and art as a whole should always be a tool to raise social awareness, so those who think "cinema is entertainment" should not even have started reading my review. For this very same reason I tend to give higher ratings to documentaries in general, as opposed to fictional feature movies - although biopics and history movies also take advantage of my bias, to the extent that they provide an accurate portrait of reality.The other three Gondry movies I've given a 10-star rating: "Eternal Sunshine...", "La science des rêves" and "Be Kind Rewind" - they all share this same verisimilitude quality, even though they are all science-fiction. I suppose it doesn't have to be real, to feel real.Besides these qualities aforementioned, a 10-star movie should also be beautifully shot, carry a compelling story, have beautiful music and likable characters. More than anything, they have to make me cry. And they have to make me laugh, and laugh hard. They need to be able to make me realize how beautiful the world we live in is. But they also cannot ever try to make me forget all the terrible things that we do to each other.They need to remind me how fragile is peace and harmony in the world, they should bring about a sober recognition of the challenges we face, and the defeats we've suffered in the past. But they should not be apocalyptic or defeatist (looking at you, Ridley Scott). We're still alive, and that's the good news, always. Aliens don't always have to invade Earth, conflict for conflict's sake does not a good movie make.It might sound crazy that a movie about a block party in Brooklyn could elicit so many feelings in one person sitting on the other side of the planet... I've watched it twice, separated by a good number of years, to make sure that it does. And it does, and I still love every minute of it, down to the very last second of soundtrack on the credits. Bare in mind that I'm not even a huge hip-hop fan, but this isn't about a music genre - it's about people like me, like all of us.Nobody in the world could have done it so beautifully, so gently, so unpretentiously. Nobody but Dave Chappelle could make me lose my breath laughing, and keep a smile on my face for almost two hours. Nobody in the world would have been able to capture the beauty of this reality, without putting his own ego on the way, but Michel Gondry - not unlike what he did on the very good "The We and the I", though here on "Block Party" once again he has achieved perfection. And he did so once again by not getting in the way of a beautiful story waiting to be told. His eyes are our eyes, the eyes of curious people not looking for a lecture, but eager to be allowed in different worlds, and to be accepted therein.Watch this, then join me on waiting for whatever the folks involved on this movie come up with next. They're talented and they appreciate the beauty that exists in this world, and we badly need it now that the dark times are back.

In a lot of scenarios, documentary film chronicle events that are provocative, but not being given the attention that it truly deserves. "Dave Chappelle's Block Party" takes a contrasting route being that it was created just for the sake of it being there in front of a live audience. But there's more than this film than Chappelle and company performing in front of a live audience. It's quite noteworthy because the music performed here is well energetic and executed to perfection and it's something that Chappelle would be capable of producing due to his fame at the time as a successful stand-up comic and that the musicians that are performing sing to the songs he could relate to. This is quite reminiscent to a time period when a plethora of musicians were able to freely lend their voices for a good cause while Chappelle wanted to offer something cool to the people at the same time. The movie is presented in three fragments which are the interviews, the rehearsal features and the live performances and just enough small periods when Chappelle gets to interact with his fans. You might enjoy the music depending on your favourite kind of music. The genre of music is rap, hip-hop, R&B and maybe even some jazz and blues for good measure. The main emphasis is rap music because Chappelle addresses numerous times in this documentary. A Brooklyn lady does utter her disdain towards rap music due to the gratuitous foul language, but its still par for the course as Chappelle loosely swears during his comedy routines which further expands the controversy of his "Block Party". But with the exception Dead Prez and pre-famed Kayne West, the performers are for the majority tamed in content(The Fugees singing "Killing Me Softly" amongst others). Director Michel Gondry raises the bar towards why this documentary was made and what its intentions were. The feeling I get was that it was to avoid any specific type of alienation from their audience. And to use this as a status symbol to unify people of all races, religions, creeds, orientations and whatnot while at the same having fun and interacting with their fans and critics alike. Of course the music selected may not be counting in everyone's tastes and there will be people vocal about their disdain, but at the same time their opinions won't be ostracized. What makes "Block Party" so magical is that the coolness is nonstop. The musical moments are very poetic and quite meaningful in detail. After seven of splitting up, The Fugees reunite even it was by default because Lauryn Hill's songs didn't get permitted to be featured here. The group were not quite on friendly terms during rehearsals and interviews, but chose their words carefully so one would walk out during the live show. But when their turn comes up, they just nailed their performance. There are some wonderful scenes where Chappelle chats with inner-city kids at a youth centre as a way to show this "Block Party" shows just how caring he is and isn't just doing this for ego and attention. Another memorable scene was when he was in his home state of Ohio and invites a college marching band to Brooklyn to be part of his Block Party. The best part was that it was all expenses paid, the charter buses got paid and they amazed the crowd by performing "Jesus Walks" with Kayne West. Even though, "Dave Chappelle's Block Party" generated a gala event of fun, entertainment and energy that just about chases all your troubles away and it does. At least I hoped it would. But after such events occurred, I couldn't help feeling a tad bit icky inside of me afterward. Not me personally, but the leading performers kind of retreated into being reclusive afterwards. For one I found this to be one of Chappelle's final hurrah before retreating and really has been keeping a lower profile in the last decade. The same can be said about Lauryn Hill who only sporadically pops up here and there, but has succumbed to a life outside the public spectrum. The music is awesome, the atmosphere is spontaneous and though it's not up the same level as "Wattstax", it still an enjoyable show and offers a lot of fun for everyone to enjoy.

I had a lot of fun watching this documentary. The Block Party looked like a lot of fun. You get a good look of Dave Chapelle behind the scenes. You also get a good behind the scenes look at many hip hop artists and groups such as: Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Jill Scott, Common, Erika Badu (who takes off her huge wig), the Roots, Lauren Hill, Wyclef Jean, Dead Prez, Kanye West, and many more. Like I said, this movie is very fun to watch. It does start slow, but you get into it. It's very funny and interesting and it makes you wish you were their. I hope he eventually does another Block Party and I wouldn't miss that for the world. I was very surprised about how funny some rappers are back stage. Like Dave Chapelle says "all rappers want to be comedians and all comedians want to rap and personally, I'm descent at both, but found a way to make money." You also see Dave Chapelle in his home town and school and everyone gives him love. They're all proud of him and they respect him and this was cool to see. He made a lot of people happy by throwing this Block Party. If you like Hip Hop or comedy, then you'll enjoy this.

A simple concept but a good one: plan a concert with your favorite musicians and pass out free tickets to random people on the street. Like a 21st century WOODSTOCK, the footage cuts between the performers, backstage banter, the organization of the event, people in the crowd, and interesting characters along the way (like the strange couple with the strange house that the show is right in front of). The looseness of the editing lends to the party atmosphere, and there's a nice inclusive spirit to the proceedings. I'm woefully out of touch with music of the past 10 years, but I had at least a passing familiarity with most of the acts. However, I was most impressed with one I'd never heard of: Dead Prez, a politically-minded hip-hop duo with electrifying lyrics, music and performance skills. I'll definitely be checking out more of them. But all the music is really good (well, I wasn't too crazy about Jill Scott). What the film could have used is a little more Chappelle, a fantastic comedian peeking his head out from an extended bout of self-imposed obscurity after achieving massive popularity with his hilarious sketch show. Considering his name's in the title, I had hoped he would be a bit more present, but what we do see and hear of him is gold, just a naturally funny, easy-going and warm-hearted guy.