Dave Chappelle’s Block Party ***|Michel Gondry’s documentary is as deceptively rough-hewn as the Comedy Central variety show Chappelle so famously walked away from. The engaging moments come when the comic heads to the Ohio town he calls home to invite his fellow denizens to a hip-hop shindig he’s throwing in New York’s Bedford- Stuyvesant. The concert features heavy hitters Kanye West, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and the Fugees. Paired with Chappelle’s recent Actors Studio appearance, “Block Party” offers a portrait of a man intent on entertaining but also driven to stay connected.|R|103 minutes|Released today|Lisa Kennedy
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang ***|When private-eye, movie consultant Perry van Shrike (Val Kilmer) takes petty thief- turned Hollywood hopeful Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.) on a job, it ends with a car plunging into a pond, a female corpse in a trunk and two hooded guys on a bluff. This murder and several other strands of intrigue get gleefully tied into “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang’s” knotted narrative in ways that keep Harry, Perry and Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan) busy and us guessing. From its hipster opening credits to its final flourish, writer-director Shane Black’s film flaunts its ultra-awareness, about genre, Lala Land and grammar. You heard right. Downey and Kilmer give this film noir romp a gleam.|R|95 minutes|Released today|Lisa Kennedy
The Pink Panther ** 1/2|Steve Martin attempts to revive the classic Blake Edwards-Peter Sellers collaboration about the idiot inspector Clouseau, and his unlikely success in solving international crimes. The humor is shallow but funny enough in places to entertain 8- to 11-year-olds, and some of their parents.|PG|92 minutes|Released today|Michael Booth
16 Blocks ** 1/2|There are two reasons to see director Richard Donner’s “16 Blocks.” Bruce Willis and Mos Def play Jack Mosley and Eddie Bunker, a run-down detective and a petty criminal turned witness. When the rookie task of getting Eddie from jail to court turns lethal, the two become prey to a pack of corrupt detectives led by Jack’s former partner (David Morse). Mos Def takes Eddie’s nonstop chattering to nasal heights. Willis wears Jack’s 20-plus years in the NYPD with a slump, a receding hairline and a swelled belly. This isn’t a vanity role. But the cops gone bad plot is over-the-top. Too often the action clamor and weak script (by Richard Wenk) make “16 Blocks” feel like a flatfoot trying to chase down a better movie.|PG-13|97 minutes|Released today|Lisa Kennedy
TV ON DVD
The Wild Wild West | Well it’s about time. One of the great, tongue-in-cheek TV Westerns has finally came to disc. The original 28 episodes of “The Wild Wild West,” from 1965-66 and starring Robert Conrad, are now together on “The Complete First Season.” Conrad, as Secret Service agent James West, encountered an array of preposterous villains, and was always well prepared with boot knives, tiny explosives, grappling guns and other gizmos invented by sidekick Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin). | $49.99 | Released June 6 | Edward P. Smith
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING | This week’s top DVDs
This week’s top videos in rentals and sales:
RENTALS
1. Cheaper by the Dozen 2
2. The Ringer
3. Rumor Has It
4. When a Stranger Calls
5. The Family Stone
SALES
1. High School Musical: Encore Edition
2. Cheaper by the Dozen 2
3. The Ringer
4. Bloodrayne: Unrated Director’s Cut
5. WWE: Wrestlemania 22
BILLBOARD ONLINE
OTHER RELEASES |DVDs are also available today
Aquamarine
Beavis & Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection, Volume 2
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
The Betty Grable Collection
The Dolly Sisters
Down Argentine Way
Moon Over Miami
My Blue Heaven
Cheers: The Eighth Season
The Cincinnati Reds 1975 World
Series Collector’s Edition
Dr. Andrew Weil’s Healthy Aging
Deviant Obsession
Dharma & Greg Season One
Dora the Explorer: Animal
Adventures
End of the Spear
Fatwa
Frasier: The Eighth Season
Green Street Hooligans
Icon
Immortals
MacGyver: The Sixth Season
Merlin’s Apprentice
Monterey Pop
Mother Teresa
Nate & Hayes
No One Would Tell
The Princess Bride Collector’s
Edition
Room 6
The Quiet Earth
Sand Trap
Split Second
Sworn to Vengeance
The Syrian Bride
Under Lock and Key
Valley of the Dolls
Walker Texas Ranger: The First Season
The World’s Fastest Indian
