American Idol Season 8 - Week 6

Quentin Tarantino. American Idol. A match made in heaven, right? Bizarre - just bizarre. I feel like having a Royale with Cheese (well, without the Cheese...in fact, let me just get a Big Kahuna Burger...).

Ok so the theme tonight is "Songs of the Cinema". Tarantino is on to guide the "Idols", but I think he's on to really feed his ego. A nice package follows that tells us: A) Quentin is a genius, B) he's been on Idol before, and is a huge fan of the show, and C) He's shooting a movie - surprise! Seriously, I LOVE Pulp Fiction. My wife hated it and fell asleep in the theater. And yet, we still were married...

I digress - Quentin's hair is really bothering me. He looks super creepy...but that's QT. :^) So first up is Allison Iraheta, singing "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" from the movie Armageddon. Allison is super excited to meet QT, or at least she says so. You know, even these packages are short tonight - they REALLY want to get through this tonight. So she begins singing the song, and for Allison it's pretty reserved. But then she gets back into her comfort zone during the chorus. Part of the problem with Idol is that you are so used to hearing the songs one way (by the original artist) that when someone else sings it, it sometimes doesn't sound right. Allison has a very powerful voice but sometimes it feels as though she's pushing too hard. There are no subtleties there. Plus, the octive seems too low for this song. I really like her, and I thought her performance was good, but it didn't blow me away like she has in other weeks. Paula said she's very talented, and Simon said Allison is the "Girls only hope" in this competition (ouch, take that Lil!). He must have loved it because he said she could go all the way to the end. Maybe I'm just not a huge fan of that song - I know it was incredibly popular, but I never felt it was as great as it was built up to. So while I think Allison did a good job, nothing that made me say, "Wow...she's definitely going to win".

The interesting thing about tonight's show is because of last week, only 2 judges are going to make comments for each contestant - Randy and Kara are one "team", and Paula and Simon are the other (of course). Hmmm...couldn't they just boot Paula off and be done with it? And maybe cut back on the packages with Quentin?

Anoop Desai is going to sing Bryan Adams classic (ok, well, I liked this song better than the Aerosmith song!) "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)" from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. QT tells Noop Dawg to really go nuts and bring it. Anoop begins the song, and the first thing I notice is that he really does have a nice voice. I also notice he has a sweaty upper lip, which he should have taken care of. While Anoop's voice is good, his big problem is that he has such little personality. He's the "Anti-Adam". And yet, having said all that, I really enjoyed this performance. I thought it was a good example of pure singing, and while he had the occasional runs, he kept it to a minimum, and just performed the song. No stupid dancing, no costumes or lighting. Just the song, and I think he did a very good job. Randy said Anoop has found his zone...in tune, with emotion, and an overall great job. Kara agreed - saying that it was one of his best performances. I love the fact Paula can't say anything at this point! This is great!!!

Next up - the person who got cut off of my DVR last week. Everyone's favorite (ha ha), Adam Lambert. He is going to sing "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf (from Easy Rider). QT said he really enjoyed the taste of...er, Adam....what? Did he really just say that? Anyway, Adam breezes through a typical Adam performance. You either really like him or you don't. Wait - that's not true. I like him but I don't think he's the best singer ever on Idol, like some are making him out to be. What Adam brings to Idol is a true sense of theatrics, and watching him go off the rails (I say that term every week) is entertaining. I think Adam is a shoo in at this point for A) the finals, B) gushing from Paula, C) a future E! True Hollywood Story, and D) possible throat problems if he keeps this up. The guy just goes absolutely nuts. I wonder if he'll...wait, did Paula just utter the words, "You dare to dance in the path of greatness...fortune rewards the brave, and you're one of the bravest contestants I've ever witnessed ever..." Wow. Where does she get this stuff? Did she have Chinese food last night? Simon said vocally it was incredible, but it reminded him of Rocky Horror (Adam mouths that he loves RH! No, really?!?) Simon thinks it was good, but it won't be as popular as last week's performance. I wouldn't know, since I wasn't able to see it live....

Matt Giraud said he enjoyed working with QT and his energy. Another Bryan Adams song - "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman" from Don Juan DeMarco (sp?). QT said that Matt can't lose the lyrics - in other words, enunciate better. QT proclaims that if Matt does live what he did in front of QT, it could be one of his top 3 performances. Matt said it's one of the most beautiful songs he's ever heard. Once the song is over, I have the following thoughts. Matt oversings this, and hits some really awful notes during the middle to end of the song. I thought it was one of his worst performances, actually. Did absolutely nothing for me. Matt is incredibly inconsistent. Randy said it started out good, but then got choppy. And he also said Matt tried to do too much with it. Kara agreed - two steps forward, and then tonight he stepped back. I see QT sitting in the audience, and I wonder what he thinks about all of these performances?? Oh, and also in the audience they show Matt's friends...holy cleavage! Wow...sorry, I was distracted there. Um...anyway, back to the performances. Where am I?

Danny Gokey (can we call him Dan? Or just D Goke?) is up next. He's not wearing his glasses, and I can't for the life of me figure out that accent. Ryan calls him "baby", and asks Danny about the guitar D Goke just purchased (Danny tells us he was bored, so he bought a guitar...never played before, but he felt like buying one....and he hints he'll use it on tour...I'm so glad they are wasting time talking about this). Danny is singing "Endless Love" by Lionel Ritchie, from the movie Endless Love. QT tells DG not to use his hands so much - ha! Um, yeah...I guess QT doesn't follow his own advice.

Anyway, I'm really struck by the Robert Downey similarities. It's amazing. But I've heard Downey sing, and he's no Danny Gokey. I think Danny does a great job with the song - yes, he goes on a bit like Matt did (or at least tried to), but the difference is Danny knows when to do the runs and it sounds natural. I really enjoyed his performance - I don't think he hurt himself at all this week, and I still can see a Danny vs Adam finale. Paula said he pulled it together from the middle on, and did a beautiful rendition. Simon said Danny was a brilliant singer, but wanted something different done with the song. He did say that he knew the song had meaning to Danny, and for that, he congratulated him. Huh? I don't get it either. Regardless, I THINK Simon liked it...think. Paula actually made more sense here...

Back from a commercial, Ryan does a really bad impression of Randy while Simon won't let Randy get back to his seat (apparently, Randy was chatting it up with QT during the commercial break...or catching a glimpse of Matt's friend...). Kris Allen is up next, and I see that there is 12 minutes left in the show...hmmm...there is NO WAY they are getting Kris and Lil up in 12 minutes...right? And I didn't set my DVR to go over. So we'll see what happens, but I'm getting worried. Anyway, Kris is singing "Falling Slowly" from the movie "Once". I didn't see this movie, but wanted to because so many critics gushed over it. So I have no idea what to expect from this song and can't compare it to the original. So don't hate me for this review. Wait, I do know this song....and I can tell you confidently I don't care for Kris' version. I thought parts of it were good, but overall, I thought he hit more wrong notes than right. Randy agrees with me - he didn't like it either. He said it was Pitchy. Kara LOVED it - totally going against Randy. Hmmmm.....I like Kara a lot but she's wrong here! Ok, everyone's entitled to their opinion except Paula.

Ok, so now we are at 3 minutes left, and Lil Rounds comes out. We learn during her package that she's singing "The Rose" by Bette Midler from The Rose. There are apparently two parts of this - the first part is pretty straightfoward, and then she's going to "Gospel it up" during the second half. Quentin tells her to commit to the first part as much as she's committing to the second half. Wow, great advice QT. Can I be the mentor next week? I can't possibly give more useless, generic advice than QT did tonight...and I love the guy as a director and pop culture afficionado. But c'mon!

So Lil does a nice job at the first part of the song - very straightforward, but as promised, really doesn't bring anything new to it. And except for a few bad notes, she does a good job. You can really tell the purity of her voice during this. Then she hits the second part of the song, and it's kind of jarring. And I actually liked the first part better. She returns to the straightforward part at the end, and hits a nice note at the end. But overall, I didn't think it was one of her better performances, and I'm actually regretting picking Lil as my #2 behind D Goke earlier during the season. I like Lil, but to me, it's become apparent that she is on the second tier of the vocalist that are left. Paula said the lyrics were beautiful (huh?), and I don't know if she liked it or not. Simon said she picked the wrong song again, and it was too middle of the road. He also said she had nice moments, but feels she's lost as an artist. I agree 100%. Lil argues that she put an R&B spin to it, but I don't think it was enough.

This week, they'll probably put the 7 into two groups of 3, and then ask the remaining person to go stand in the group who they think is safe. And they'll sit in the middle. So I say safe: Danny, Adam and Kris (just because of his fanbase). Danger group: Allison, Matt and Lil. And the one they ask to sit in the middle - Anoop (or maybe Adam is the one who has to sit in the middle). I see Matt or Lil going home...if it's Lil, I would have said weeks ago that they would definitely save her. But I don't see that happening at this point. We'll see what happens. Tune in tomorrow night to see if I'm right or not!