Dave Chappelle's Block Party & Pickup on South Street

Dave Chappelle's Block Party is just about the most fun you're going to have at a movie this year. Full of great music (and I couldn't even tell you who were some of the acts until names were mentioned), hilarious Chappelle-isms, and just a sense of enjoyment that breaks down any and all reservations. Lots and lots of fun. Made me wish I were one of the 19 whites at the concert.

Pickup on South Street is supposed to be Samuel Fuller's most conventional film, and it is fairly straightforward. It is, however, a very striking little film, very short, but full of the typical Fullerisms of brutal violence and outstanding economy of filmmaking. Scorsese loves Fuller's films, and after watching a movie like this, you really have to wonder why he isn't more famous than he is. Then again, it's precisely because of movies like this that he's not more famous: glamorizing criminals and stool pigeons, demonizing federal agents, and not portraying the commies as planning on eating our precious babies all point to a movie that isn't actually about the plot, it's about how the characters, particularly Skip, Candy, and Moe, interact. Well, that, and about how Fuller knows how to edit an opening scene. The pickpocketing on the subway in the first scene had me hooked, and it didn't have any dialogue. Just some intense staring. Very intense staring. And a pitch perfect performance from Thelma Ritter, someone who also doesn't get her due, but this was the fourth straight supporting actress nomination for her, and she deserved it.