The duo has extended their tour to include a third week spanning six shows in six cities, including stops in Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. New tour dates are below. (via Paste)

The new season of “Portlandia” airs on IFC on Fridays at 10 PM (9 Central).

Portlandia on Tour (Added Dates)
2/19 Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
2/20 Boston, MA @ Berklee Performing Arts Center
2/21 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
2/22 Durham, NC @ Carolina Theatre
2/23 Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
2/24 Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works

The show starred Adam Scott as Henry Pollard, a failed actor employed by the Party Down catering service. The series also featured Lizzy Caplan, Martin Starr, Ryan Hansen, Ken Marino, and Mullally as his coworkers. Jane Lynch, who appeared in season one and was replaced by Mullally in season two (Lynch left the program for a more lucrative spot on “Glee”), will be invited by the producers to take part in the project, but it is not known if she will agree. (via HuffPo)

Having written a number of songs used in the score, McKenzie has been promoting The Muppets recently. When asked about the possibility of a Flight of the Conchords film, he replied “We’re gonna try and do a movie. We just need a story.” (via NME)

Sounds like it’s still a couple years off…

The high point of the evening, however, occurred while Bachmann walked onstage, as house band The Roots played a version of Fishbone‘s “Lyin’ Ass Bitch.” (via The Raw Story and P4k)

However, according to ABC News, Roots leader and drummer Questlove has apparently been “grounded” by Fallon, and offered an apology:

““The performance was a tongue-in-cheek and spur of the moment decision. The show was not aware of it and I feel bad if her feelings were hurt. That was not my intention,” Questlove said in a statement.

Around noon Tuesday Fallon tweeted, “@Questlove is grounded.”

Walt Disney Pictures
98 mins., dir. by James Bobin, with Jason Segel, Amy Adams, and Chris Cooper

The Muppets are the one franchise I feel can appeal to both children and adults on multiple levels. Their jokes are funny to both demographics and, on the whole, are clean. With a script penned by the traditionally raunchy Jason Segel and Nick Stoller, The Muppets “reboot” is cute and enjoyable, but not without some issues.

Walter is your run-of-the-mill kid living in a small suburban town. His parents love him, and his brother is a close confidant and protector. Of course, to the audience, the fact that Walter is a puppet is overlooked. When he discovers the Muppets, he feels a connection with the cadre of lovable characters and devotes his life to Muppet fandom.

Walter’s brother is heading to L.A. with his girlfriend to celebrate their 10-year anniversary and decide to take Walter along so he can tour Muppet studios. Now defunct and vacant, Walter learns of a dastardly plan by oil tycoon Tex Richman to buy the property and tear it down. Understanding that the only way to stop Richman is to have the Muppets buy back the property for the price of 10 million dollars, as Walter sets out to bring the Muppets back together and put on a show to save the theater and their friendships.

From the minor to the major aspects, the film borrows heavily from the previous Muppet movies. Like the original film, much of The Muppets is a road movie, and the reunion aspect of The Muppets Take Manhattan is front and center. The endless line of random cameos (the Animal replacement in a Muppets knock-off act is priceless) is well in place with an array of celebrities, some whom appeal to older audience members with others for the younger viewers. The general irreverent comedy of the Muppets, is intact and there is very little identifiable typical Segel and Stoller humor to overpower the surefire system the characters have in place. The overall product is fun and enjoyable, but with a few key problems.

This is a Muppets movie. They’re the stars and there’s no question about it, yet the Jason Segel/Amy Adams plot line weighs in too heavily at times. Their problems shouldn’t be the focal point… ever. With so many characters in the Muppet universe, time spent on this side plot keeps a lot of Muppets in the lurch. The Muppets are the longest running franchise that created a brand new character nearly 20 years into its run, and to their credit, it was successful and funny. Pepe The King Prawn is relegated to a practically unfunny cameo in this adventure, and it’s a crying shame he was pushed to the side so easily.

Directed by “Flight of the Conchords“ co-creator James Bobin, with all songs and choreography by the Conchord’s Bret McKenzie, the entire experience feels more like an episode of that show and only made me yearn more than ever for a Flight of the Conchords movie.The melody, choreography, and style of the song ”Am I a Muppet or a Man?” is oddly reminiscent of the “I’m Not Crying” section of the Flight of the Conchords first episode. There are more than a few noticeable similarities throughout out the film, specifically in the musical sections; despite this, the musical numbers are enjoyable and funny (Chris Cooper’s solo performance will have the theater rolling on the floor in a flourish of shocking laughter).

Nitpicking aside, The Muppets does its job well. Returning to its film roots with some new tricks, The Muppets provides laughs for all and enough nostalgia for anyone who grew up with the show. In a perfect world, this new installment to the storied franchise might spark interest in bringing the variety show back to television. If it helps get a Flight of the Conchords movie made as well, all the better.

—

Matthew Schuchman is the founder and film critic of Movie Reviews From Gene Shalit’s Moustache (http://shalitsstache.com) and the contributing film writer for IPaintMyMind(http://ipaintmymind.org).

Though Netflix has found itself embattled with dissatisfied users and falling subscribers, the deal will surely be a boost to the company. Exclusive content will likely become their new M.O. — Netflix will be offering at least one other original, exclusive series, as “House of Cards” will launch in 2012.

The first three seasons of “Arrested Development” are currently available to Netflix customers; season four will premier in the first half of 2013. Though it’s more than a year away, I guarantee you my modem will crash 30 seconds into the first episode.

Universal Pictures
104 min., dir. by Brett Ratner with Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller, and Casey Affleck

Bernie Madoff’s greed affected so many people. If all the victims of his ponzi scheme formed a torch and pitchfork wielding posse, their formation would be visible from space. The whole situation was devoid of humor, but Tower Heist tries to bring some laughs to a small percentage of people affected by a Madoff-type scheme, and has some decent things to share in a wholly unrealistic situation.

Josh Kovacs is the building manager at The Tower, a luxury residency at Columbus Circle in New York City (the exterior and location is that of The Trump International Tower in Columbus Circle). He is revered by his employees and the residents, and is a close confidant of the buildings owner, billionaire Arthur Shaw. When Shaw is arrested by the FBI, Kovacs needs to break the news to The Tower employees that he had asked Shaw to invest their pension fund, money that is now lost. As tensions begin to grow, Kovacs lashes out at the now cold and un-empathetic Shaw who is under house arrest in his penthouse loft.

Unhappy with Josh’s new attitude (and his destructive behavior), Shaw fires Josh and the few employees unlucky enough to be in the room when Kovacs loses his cool. In a bid to make up for his mistakes and help his friends, Josh hatches a plan to steal what he believes is $20 million Shaw has in a hidden safe in his penthouse. Employing the aid of a local crook to train his team of ex-employees and former residents, Kovacs begins his mission to set things straight and nothing will stop him, not even the lead FBI agent on the Shaw case that he is falling for.

Any heist story that features the ragtag upstart crew is generally unbelievable. The situations in Tower Heist are not just unbelievable — they’re down right unfathomable. With a ridiculousness factor of 1000 percent, it’s no use complaining.

At its start, the comedy was failing quickly. A pile of dialogue-driven nonsequiturs poorly delivering character back-story rained a felling of dread upon me. As the story picked up, the jokes got better, but drawn out sections of forced buffoonery hold the film back. There’s a good five to 10 minutes spent watching the protagonists shoplift petty items as a test set forth to them by their lowlife trainer, Slide, yet only one fleeting scene is used to cover their supposed training. While I try to look past these inconsistencies — as I do the ridiculous nature of the film — I can’t help but come back to them as they create a choppy viewing experience that pulls me away from enjoying it.

The saving grace of Tower Heist is its star-studded cast, and each role is played aptly by its chosen actor. It’s difficult to remember Eddie Murphy ever playing a character as despicable as Slide, and Matthew Broderick brought new tricks to the wounded deer act he perfected in Election. Alan Alda used to be a customer of mine when I worked retail and may be the nicest man alive. Seeing him jump into the heartless skin of Arthur Shaw takes all that away and sucks me into his world of greed and moral depravity.

But standing above them all is Ben Stiller and his New York accent. A native New Yorker, Stiller’s New York accent only really comes out in overly colorful skits and characters that lay the speech on thick. Here the accent is prominent and noticeable, but layered in so subtly that it feels natural. It’s a small idiosyncrasy that grounds a real enough character in an unreal story.

Tower Heist delivers some enjoyable laughs. Yet for as good a job the cast does to help the film, it still falls into a pit of convoluted exposition, tired chess analogies, and unrealistic events. The underlining exploration of one criminal turning a “nice guy” into the Robin Hood of his times is lost in the attempt to make the audience laugh. Good for a chuckle here and there, Tower Heist is just too long and too disjointed for a relaxing escape to the movies.

—

Matthew Schuchman is the founder and film critic of Movie Reviews From Gene Shalit’s Moustache(http://shalitsstache.com). Also the contributing film writer for IPaintMyMind (http://ipaintmymind.org) he has no issue tearing apart and analyzing any film, even children’s movies.

The series of comedy shorts is set in a fictional rendering of Portland, Oregon, and features recurring characters including an organic farmer/cult leader, members of an adult hide and seek league, owners of a feminist book store, a militant bike messenger, and an artsy couple who attach cut-outs of birds to everything. The first season features cameos from the real mayor of Portland (Sam Adams), Selma Blair, Steve Buscemi, Heather Graham, Aimee Mann, Sarah McLachlan, Aubrey Plaza, Gus Van Sant, and Jason Sudeikis.

The DVD will be released on December 6th, 2011 and will retail for $19.95 (Blu-Ray/DVD combo sells for $26.95). Both sets include all six episodes of the first season with bonus features including a blooper reel, extended scenes, deleted scenes, Fred Armisen’s speech to Oregon Episcopal School graduates, original ThunderAnt videos, and commentary with Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstien and director Jonathan Krisel over six episodes.

There’s also a preview of what’s in store for the second season, which premieres on IFC on Friday, January 6th, 2012 at 10:00 PM.

Cancer comedy is an odd genre — I spent the whole of 50/50 in a strange unimmersed state. The most noteworthy thing about the film is the very deliberate timings between serious melancholy scenes and the silly joke scenes. The film only comes alive when it crashes the two together.

The story follows Adam Lerner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a healthy man who has gotten cancer at a very young age, and his changing relationships with his friends and family — mostly focusing on his best friend, Kyle (Seth Rogen).

Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are funny in their own ways, but the chemistry between the two on screen is sketchy at best. This is primarily because 50/50 is a film where Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Adam Lerner and Seth Rogen plays Seth Rogen.

But in truth, there’s nothing stopping you from enjoying this. There are ample moments in the film which match the comedy level of the excerpts used in the trailer (although few scenes are funnier), and, thankfully, cancer is dealt with in a realistic manner rather than wallowing in tragedy.

There are tragic elements, though — it seems almost perversely tragic that Adam’s father has Alzheimer’s. It’s not directly dealt with, giving the feel that it fell victim to the editing floor, leaving behind a side story that is nothing more than a casually depressing reference.

50/50 spends most of its time preparing you for Adam’s death and survival in equal amounts, and I’m not sure whether to commend it or loath it for finally landing on one of them and then hyperactively changing its mind and choosing the other one instead.

Unfortunately, 50/50 serves more as a method for some lighthearted cancer jokes rather than establishing any characters. This is especially prevalent with the female characters who are easily boiled down to one word descriptions (“bitch” and “awkward” come to mind).

Having said all this, I did laugh on many occasions. Joseph Gordon-Levitt does, as always, a good job. 50/50 is a damn sight better than much of the other films released this summer, despite running back and forth between sad and funny like a shoddy bi-polar impersonation.