Jeffrey A. Johnson Movies
In September 2004, comedian Dave Chappelle took a break from his immensely successful Comedy Central show to stage a free, unpublicized, all-star hip-hop concert in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. Inviting fans over the Internet, on the street, and even in his family's hometown of Yellow Springs, OH, Chappelle asked filmmaker Michel Gondry to document the event from its inception on through to the performances themselves. The result is Dave Chappelle's Block Party, a concert film that provides not only a sampling of the music on display that September, but also an intimate look at the comedian himself. Gondry's cameras tag along with Chappelle as he visits Ohio, recruits a university marching band to play at the show, and surveys the opinions of Clinton Hill on the show that's about to take place. Along the way, we're introduced to some the comedian's favorite acts, in rehearsals and on-stage: Dead Prez, Jill Scott, Mos Def, the Roots, Erykah Badu, Kanye West, and the surprise reuniting of the Fugees. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dave Chappelle, Kanye West, (more)
Director Steve Stockman takes the helm for this semi-autobiographical comedy drama about an estranged family that comes together for one last goodbye, and finds their assumedly brief farewell inexorably dragged out for two excruciating weeks. Aging matriarch Anita (Sally Field) is dying, but before she goes, she has requested that her four grown children travel back home to visit their ailing mother on her deathbed. Eager to gain a better understanding of the dying process, daughter Emily purchases a variety of self-help books on the subject. Though brother Keith (Ben Chaplin) soon arrives determined to float through the process in typical L.A. Zen mode, Emily contends that the only way to be prepared for the future is to consider every detail that can go awry. When PR executive Barry arrives intent on getting some work done before death comes knocking, it appears as if he is more concerned with getting broadband Internet in the house than actually tending to his mother. Meanwhile, youngest brother Matthew sets at the sidelines biding his time as his unlikable wife, Katrina, callously speculates on which of the dying woman's luxurious jewels she will be inheriting. Now, as Anita begins to look back at her life while reflecting on the time spent with her family, the question of who will hold this family together once she is gone casts a melancholy shadow over her fond memories. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Field, Ben Chaplin, (more)
