Cinematic Songs - 4/14/09

Hello all. Another night of performances with our group of seven singing songs from the movies. Once again I have to add that I was disappointed with the song picks as some we have heard too many times by other idol hopefuls. However I did like one very much which I will cover soon.

Our opening of the show features guest mentor Quentin Tarantino saying "This is American Idol". Ryan Seacrest on stage welcomes us and introduces the band and our judges with lots of compliments. One change this week is that only two judges will comment on the performances at a time. As you may remember last week the show went into overtime which caused alot of uproar. My advice is get rid of some of those commercials (if only they would, yeah right).

Next up after the intro to the top 7, we hear of the career of Quentin Tarantino who directed such movie hits "Pulp Fiction" and "Kill Bill". Frankly I am not a big fan of this director as I feel his movies are too violent. One other factor before we get to the performances is Quentin was a guest judge during season 3 as we see him comment on a performance that was given by Diana DeGarmo of that year. Now for the songs:

Allison Iraheta is first and will perform "I Don't Want To Miss a Thing" made famous by Aerosmith and featured in the movie "Armageddon". Frankly I did not care for this performance very much. The beginning seemed off-pitch some and although Allison tried to rock it out in the second half of the song it was just okay for me personally overall. The judges did not agree with my assessment with Paula calling her authentic and talented. Simon chimed in with he felt Allison was the girls only hope and he thinks she could make it all the way in this competition. I have my doubts on that one. My grade: B-

I have been saying all along that I think Anoop Desai sounds good when he sings the ballads and tonight was no exception. I honestly do not care for Bryan Adams as an artist so was sort of disappointed with this song choice but Anoop performs "Every I Do I Do For You" quite well from the movie "Robin Hood". Randy comments that Anoop was in tune, showed emotion and did a good job. Kara thinks it is one of his best and felt connected. I liked it also. My grade: B+

:) Okay I know I am starting to sound like a broken record regarding Adam Lambert but in reality I honestly think he deserves to win this competition. Tonight he is doing "Born To Be Wild" by the 60's group Steppenwolf which was featured in the movie "Easy Rider". I honestly felt like I was at a rock concert with Adam displaying sexy moves, amazing range and much inter-action with the band and audience. Paula loved it and called him brave. Simon thinks the vocal was incredible but felt last week was better. I personally loved it! My grade: A

I like Matt Giraud but sadly he is not always consistent with his performances. Tonight he is doing another Bryan Adams song called "Have You Ever Loved A woman" from the movie Don Juan DeMarco. As mentioned earlier this is a song that is done too often on this show. Matt is playing the piano and starts off nicely however when he hits the falsetto the notes start sounding off as mentioned by Randy. Kara thinks he took away the core melody and tried to do too much with it. I was not too happy with the overall performance and Matt may be in jeopardy this week. My grade: B-

:kisses: As mentioned by Simon I could honestly understand why Danny Gokey picked the song "Endless Love" by the movie of the same name. This was definitely for his wife and I loved how Danny looked up to the heavens as he finished his song. Paula appreciated the song more midway too the end which she said sounded beautiful. Simon knows Danny is a good singer but did not care for the harp which played as Danny sang. He also mentions he was not that happy with the performance but as mentioned he understood how much the song meant to him. I thought he did pretty good overall. My grade: B+

The next choice of song was not a good one by Kris Allen. He is singing a song from a movie I am not familiar with. The song is called "Falling Slowly" from the movie "Once". With his talent I would have so loved to hear him sing "If You Leave" by the group OMD (oh well). On the song he did sing I felt the first half sounded very monotone. The second half was a little better but you could hear some of the off-notes pretty well. Kara loved it and thought it was one of his best. (Huh?) Like Randy I have to say the song just never caught on for me. My grade: B-

Arguing with the judges is not a good move and Lil was very verbal after the judges comments. Tonight she is singing "The Rose" from the movie of the same title. Bette Midler had a hit with this song. Lil tries to bring some soul and gospel to the song but to my ears it sounded all over the place and was not very good. Paula says she should be proud of making it this far (is she psychic I wonder). Simon is not that generous as he says the song was too soft, too middle of the road and wants to say more but Lil who is not a happy camper starts defending her choice. My thoughts are she is the one who should be eliminated as she has not shown us her potential throughout the show. My grade: C-

So another night of performances have come to an end and my bottom 3 consist of Lil, Kris and Matt. I am so hoping the judges will not save Lil who I think should go. What do you think?

In closing I wish you a happy day and I'll be back later tonight with my results re-cap. Toodles!

Hmmmm.....
See, I'm going to go out there and just say that I like Lil. I think she has a great voice and spunk and is fun. I will say, however, maybe she does not need to win this competition. Especially with that kind of attitude.
~tyg

I'm going out on a limb here.

(I like how you use the emoticons CC. I'm going to try it)
I just don't like Adam Lambert. I think his screaming in his songs is awful. I will admit though....he does have a great voice when he does sing. (I'm thinking Motown week here) I agree with Simon, last week was better than this one. He would be great doing theatre. I feel he's got that ability.

:kisses: Anoop's performance was the best of the night. He did everything right in my opinion. It was full of emotion and I felt very connected to it.

Kris and Matt are disappointing me every week. They are both so talented yet they don't stay consistant with the song choices and how they sing them.

Allison is cute as a button. I wouldn't neccessarily say she's going to save the girls this season (as Simon mentioned) but she's good. I can see her doing as well as Kelly Clarkson.

I loved Danny's song even though it was alittle off. I could feel the emotion in his voice as he sang. {BTW Simon...I like the harp}

Lil.....she needs to go home. I am not connecting with her at all.

Wow, I think this will be a first for me, but I am not on the same page with this week CC. Normally you nail my feelings to the letter but for some reason I'm way off this time.

Allison, I thought she did very well with that song, maybe more so the bottom half of it but I thought she was one of the best last night. And usually I'm not that into her.

Anoop, I did like his performance a lot, he seems to have almost connected with the song, I thought he did very well and I noticed for the first time, that he's a very nice looking young man.

Adam, Easy Rider is or was a very popular song way back when, and I didn't care for it then, Adam is extremley talented but not a favorite of mine at all, and I thought this performance was WAY over the top.

Matt, What can I say about Matt, there is just something about him that I can not warm up too, I did not care for his performance to much, he did good, I just didn't like I guess.

Danny, A classic of a song for sure and when he sang you could feel the emotion in it from him, I do agree that he was very much doing this with his wife in mind. I thought he did very well, but the song is not a favorite of mine.

Kris, I loved Kris's performance, I really did, I don't know the song at all but he realed me in, I thought he showed a lot of heart and he took a song that not to many would know and it up right. I agree or almost agree with Kara on this, I don't think it was his best but right up there.

Lil, I do not care for this song and she made me see why. NO disrespect to her fans but she did not do a good job with this at all. I so agree with Simon.. I think Lil is thinking to much, or trying to hard something, she was so so much better in the earlier rounds and seems to have just lost something on the way. I also think that her arguing with Simon didn't win her any browny points, I see her point but to arguee with the head hancho is not good.

IF one is to believe what is on the voting sites Kris is the one with the lowest votes and I sure hope he doesn't go home because I think this young man has a lot to offer and I really do like him the best of the 7 remaining. I know Adam is more than likely the winner of this season and if he is I'll say congradualtions to his fans and be on my merry way but I don't know if I can get behind the hype on Adam, he's just not my style but will admit he is good at what he does.

Good to hear from all of you on who you like versus who you don't. Definitely some interesting points. My honest opinion is each of us have our favorites and no one is wrong to like who they do so do not feel like you have to agree with my point of view as I feel differing opinions make the world go round.

I know many of you do not care for Adam and frankly I was not so much in to him at the beginning but I see this guy being a star for sure and I honestly can not wait to buy his music.

Danny Gokey is still up there in my top favorites and I so hope to get his music also. Just love his passion and soul.

The others are iffy for me as they are not always consistent in their performances. Matt has his highs and lows for sure. Kris was awesome doing "Ain't No Sunshine" and if he put out an album with that kind of greatness I would definitely get it however I have not cared so much for his other performances. Allison and Anoop are also on my maybe list.

Lil is a definite no for me even though I feel she can sing.

Anyway, good to hear from all of you!

CC, I think we all appreciate that we can come here and give our opinions and not be torn apart for it. That is one of the best things about being here at times. I also know that taste are always different and as I told someone the other day, it would be a pretty boring show if everyone liked the same.

I do think Adam is super talented as in Danny adn when it comes right down to it I believe these will be the finale 2 standing.I also believe that both will do very good in the music business, For me there is something about Kris that caught my attention, maybe it's because he didn't have the same amount of air time or that he in a way reminds me of my son, except my son doesn't sing of course, He seems like a very normal young man that is working hard to get here because no one paid him a lot of attention until recently.. who knows, I do with them all very good luck in whatever order they go out. And as for you, well I can totally understand where you are coming from being a fan of both Adam and Danny, their fan bases are HUGE... Thanks so much for always doing the review and doing them so good..

That is one of the greatest thing about being here - we don't HAVE to act sychophantic with one another - we love each other no matter what opinions the other has or doesn't. For example, I'm not terribly into the show anymore. My friend enjoys it far more than I and I watch with her at times, but I'm not gung ho on the show. I think there are some incredibly gifted people on it, though.
~tyg

Three cheers for The Real Deal. A place where people can stop in, share a opinion or two and feel comfortable.

Danny is my favorite but I also recognise Adam's amazing voice. I agree....He will be a star. Matt was one of my other favorites in the beginning as was Anoop. Due to their inconsistant performances I've lost some interest in both. Kris is still an adorable guy, IMO. The girls, Allison and Lil, just don't "WOW" me.