Ever since I first saw his Goldilocks-inspired music video for Bjork’s "Human Behavior," I knew that Michel Gondry was a filmmaker I had to keep an eye on.

I'm happy to say that, in the fifteen (!) years since he unleashed that visually daring, ingeniously funny, and just-a-touch creepy five-minute clip on an unsuspecting public, Gondry hasn’t disappointed me once. His feature films – and you knew right away that he’d eventually earn the status to be able to make some – are some of the most inventive comedies I’ve ever seen, from the zany and way too little-seen Human Nature to the more emotionally powerful (though still pretty damn funny) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep.

So I can forgive the guy if he seems to be regressing a bit with this week’s Be Kind Rewind, maybe his most mainstream movie to date – especially since it stars the ever-reliable Jack Black and Mos Def, and features a premise so totally, ridiculously goofy that you’ve just got to appreciate it (it involves Black and Mos making half-assed low-budget versions of all the blockbusters at Mos’s video store, after Black accidentally becomes magnetized and erases all his tapes).

Both a paean to the fondly remembered VHS era (isn’t it sad that our kids will never know the joyful torture of rewinding a two-hour-plus tape or “adjusting the tracking” on the VCR) and an excuse for Gondry to gently lampoon some of our favorite movies, it ought to be a blast. What’s also pretty cool about the film is that it reunites Gondry with rapper/actor Mos Def, who previously appeared in the director’s concert documentary Dave Chappelle’s Block Party.

Made at the height of Chappelle’s popularity in 2004, Block Party was intended not only as a hip-hop concert doc – featuring acts like The Roots, Kanye West, Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, and the briefly reunited Fugees – but also as the comedian’s attempt to reconnect with the regular folks after two tv seasons of being uncomfortably super-famous. Being that it was a free concert for everyone who attended – and that Chappelle, who pops in for comedy bits here and there, seems like he’s having the time of his life throughout – he seems to have been pretty successful on both fronts.

As a film, Block Party is a little bit scattershot, but fun and energetic nonetheless. Along with performance footage from the Block Party, we get to see Dave inviting some clueless Ohioans to join him in Brooklyn Bed-Stuy neighborhood for the show; some relaxed backstage moments where he talks and jokes and even plays some music with the assembled performers; even a tour of the reclaimed warehouse adjacent to the concert site, owned by a pair of friendly, highly eccentric old hippies who are happy to show Chappelle around (though we never do get to meet the pet cheetah they claim to have in there).

The actual performance footage is top-notch, though Gondry cuts away from the stage more than some hardcore fans might like him to. Still, there are some pretty powerful musical moments here – from Kanye West performing "Jesus Walks" with a college marching band backing him up to a politically charged bout of wordplay from the underappreciated Dead Prez – and they’re all capped off with Lauryn Hill’s breathtaking rendition of the Fugees’ signature cover "Killing Me Softly" (maybe worth seeing the movie for in itself).

One of the things Gondry really nails is capturing Chappelle’s personality – though the comedian’s goofy side always shines through (dude sure can tell a yo’ momma joke), you really get the sense after seeing Block Party that he’s a true man of the people; late in the film, he calls the concert the best day of his career, and it’s hard not to believe him. Block Party, of course, was made before Chappelle famously abandoned his Comedy Central series and fled to Africa to get out of the limelight, and it’s a further reminder of how talented he was before he essentially retreated from the public eye for good – though I still hold out hope for another sketch comedy series somewhere down the line.

At any rate, Block Party is a great little concert movie, and it’s also proof that Gondry’s got a lot more up his sleeve than quirky, visually dazzling comedies. As always, I can’t want to see what he does next.