Posts Tagged Quentin Tarantino
American Idol – Final 7 (Results Show)
Posted by S. J. in American Idol, Season 8 on April 15, 2009
Good Evening, America! It’s Wednesday night, and that can only mean that 5 minutes worth of programming will find a way to be miraculously stretched into an hour of your time. How do they do it you ask? Ancient Chinese secret, I say. But the truth? Filler. Lots and lots of filler. And somewhere in the midst of all the useless video montages and guest star performances, some unlucky wannabe will be reduced to tears. Sounds like fun, right? This… is American Idol!
I’ve decided that whoever is dressing Randy hates him more than Paula’s stylist hates her. Honestly, I mean, come on. What’s up with the ugly sweaters? Anyway, tonight while waiting for the results, Miley Cyrus and Jennifer Hudson are here to sing for us.
We go straight into the Ford Music Video to “Freeze Frame” where our Idols are gracing the covers of various magazines. Except for poor Matt Giraud. He doesn’t get to play in any reindeer games. Matt is forced to bop around like a dork. What’s the word of the week, kiddies? L-A-M-E. Can you say ‘lame’ boys and girls? I knew you could.
Our Group Sing this week is “Maniac” from the movie “Flashdance”. I can’t tell whether they are lip-synching or not, but this week I don’t care. This is too wonderfully cheesy not to love. The only thing that disappoints me is that they didn’t let Adam Lambert-Martin to go all Jennifer Beals and dance with a chair and have water poured on him. Maybe next time.
This week, as you all know, we are down to our Final 7, and for those of you who remember in years past, this is what I like to call “Evil Week”. This is the week where Ryan divides the Idols into two groups of 3, then makes the poor 7th person stand with which group they think is safe. It’s never fun for the 7th person, and it’s never fun for us, because this is usually the week where a front-runner gets unexpectedly booted from the show. (Jennifer Hudson, I’m looking at you.) I hate “Evil Week”.
Alison is the first person to stand. Ryan tells her that she’s safe. What? He’s not being evil this year. Oh, my world has spun off its axis. Well, at least she’s safe. Next up, my Adam Lambert-Martin. And he’s SAFE!!!! Ahhh, what a good night. Anoop stands up to get his results, and while Ryan reads his critiques, the camera pans to Randy yawning. Yes, Randy, those are my thoughts on Anoop as well. America must agree because Anoop is again in the Bottom 3. (Called it!)
Coming home to American Idol is Oscar and Grammy Winner, Jennifer Hudson!!! She’s here to sing “If This Isn’t Love”. It’s a great R&B song with some big Jennifer vocals at the end. If you like Ms. Hudson and you don’t have this cd, get yourself over to iTunes and download it right now. I’ll wait till you get back. You won’t regret it.
Back to the results. We’re about to finish out the Bottom 3. Kris and Lil stand. Appropriately, Kris is safe, and Lil is in the Bottom 3. (Called it!) Now to Matt and Danny. Danny is safe, and Matt rounds out the Bottom 3. (Called it again! Man, I’m good.) So, we have Anoop, Lil, and Matt. All of them deserve to be where they are. Time for someone to go back to safety, and that person is… Anoop? Well, shut my mouth and paint me red! Well, shoot the horse and slap me silly! Well, stomp on frogs and shove a crowbar up my nose! (Can you tell I’m shocked?) I didn’t see that coming.
It’s Miley time! As Tweens around the world pee their pants, Ms. Miley Cyrus takes the stage to sing her new song “The Climb” from “Hannah Montana: The Movie”. She looks very grown up and beautiful, which is such a nice change from her usual rebellious teenage skank look. Now, I’ll admit it, I like me some Miley. Not a huge fan of this song, but it’s growing on me. Could be because they are playing it at least 2X an hour on the radio.
Back to the results, and the eliminated Idol is… Matt Giraud? I didn’t see that coming either. I thought for sure that Lil was a goner. It’s time for Matt to “Sing for his Life”. He is sans piano tonight. The Judges are huddled together. This might be the first week where they are truly considering using the Judges Save. (I think last week was just for show.) Paula and Kara are standing and swaying. Matt messed up on the bridge again. There was a bit more passion behind his performance tonight, but vocally, I think he did better last night. The crowd is chanting “Save! Save! Save!” The other 6 Idols are pulling for him to stay. You can feel the excitement swell. (I’m so nervous, I could just spit!) Simon tells Matt that he doesn’t have a chance to win the completion, but in the end the Judges have chosen to… SAVE HIM! The crowd is on its feet! The other Idols mob him with excitement and hugs. Paula, unsurprisingly, is crying. What a night! Before the party can continue, Simon ruins everyone’s fun by reminding us that 2 Idols have to go home next week, and next week is also Disco Week.
Well, that’s our show… and what a show it was! Not only were Adam Lambert-Martin and Allison safe, but we got to see the return of Jennifer Hudson… and to top it off, Idol history was made with the first-ever use of the Judge’s Save, thus sparing Matt Giraud from going home. It was almost too much excitement for one 60 minute show. Before I sign off, I’d like to send big birthday wishes to Mr. Brady Powers and Ms. Lisa Almond! Join us back here next week when our Idols tackle Disco and learn to do the Hustle. Same Steve Time. Same Steve Channel.
American Idol – Final 7 (Performance Show)
Posted by S. J. in American Idol, Season 8 on April 14, 2009
Good Evening, America! It’s Tuesday night, and here we are. Back again for another round of potentially impressive performances. Before we begin, let’s take a moment to honor the elimination of Scott “Pity Vote” MacIntyre. Not because we’ll miss his performances. No. But because I’m going to miss my favorite target of completely biased criticism. Ready? Okay, that’s long enough. On with the show. This… is American Idol!
Tonight, our Idols will be doing “Music from the Movies”, and here to help our Idols is one of my favorite people in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino. (I loved the fact that he got to say “This is American Idol!) I’m a HUGE Tarantino fan, and as we can all remember, he was the most honest Guest Judge from any previous season. I’m interested to see what he does with our Idols tonight. My favorite music from movies would have to be the themes to “Jaws” and “Halloween”, and though I don’t think anyone will be doing that tonight, if any Idol could pull it off, it would be my Adam Lambert-Martin. To keep from running over time like last week, only two Judges will be speaking per contestant. Hmmm, should be interesting.
Allison Iraheta is singing “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith from “Armageddon”. First off, I need to say that I hate this movie and despise this song. Not too happy with this song choice, but I have faith in her. Allison starts off soft and subdued, and I’m beginning to lose that faith, but as we get to the chorus, everything kicks up a notch, and I start to like it more. (Something is off with her voice tonight. I wonder if she’s sick.) Though this isn’t the best Allison performance, it was still good, and there’s no way she should go home.
Anoop Desai is singing “Everything I Do (I Do For You)” by Bryan Adams from “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”. You know, I remember liking this song, and Bryan Adams… then I grew up, and now I know better. Tarantino tells him he needs to “rough it up”, but I don’t think Anoop has that kind of edge. He has about as much edge as a dull spork. And I was right… BORING! (What’s he wearing? It’s like a suit jacket and a varsity jacket got together and made an ugly baby jacket. Ugh.) For a minute there, I thought the audience was booing him (as they should), but they’re saying “Anooooooop”. Hmmm, I guess there’s no accounting for taste.
Adam Lambert-Martin is singing “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf from “Easy Rider”. This is a perfect choice for Adam. I love that he’s gone back to his wild clothes and hair. He’s dangerous and dirty, but in a VERY good way. From the first note of the song, I’m already on board with this performance, and I know down in FL, my parents (who LOVE this song) are as excited as tweens at a Jonas Brothers concert. Words cannot express how much I LOVED this performance. My Adam was flawless, as always. If I wasn’t so interested in seeing the other songs he’ll do this season, I would say they should stop the show now and declare him the winner.
Matt Giraud is singing “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman” by Bryan Adams from “Don Juan DeMarco”. Again with the Bryan Adams songs? I like the fact that he’s behind the piano. I feel it’s required for this song. I’m willing to give him a chance. So far, not bad. Then he got to the bridge and completely loses it. I looked away for a minute so I’m not sure if that was him singing or if he was strangling a cat. Would have been better if he had kept the core of the song like at the beginning. Not good Matt. Not good.
Danny Gokey is singing “Endless Love” by Lionel Ritchie from… you guessed it, “Endless Love”. Danny is keeping it simple and not overdoing it, which has the possibility of being boring, but so far it isn’t. As the song goes on, it becomes more emotional and powerful. Near the end, he starts straining more and more, and I think he may have pulled something. Overall, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t phenomenal either. The middle was much better than the beginning or the end. Still, he has nothing to worry about.
Kris Allen is singing “Falling Slowly” by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova from “Once”. A lot of people aren’t familiar with this movie, and it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but this is a good song. It’s an incredibly emotional song, and the simpleness of it lends to the emotional credibility. The falsetto he achieves is amazing and just the right touch. Tonight was a good night for him.
Finishing the show is Lil Rounds with “The Rose” by Bette Midler from… you guess it again, “The Rose”. This is a great song, and at one point, I was able to play this on the piano. Not the song I would have picked for Lil though. Her song choices week after week are baffling me. It’s like she’s trying to be eliminated. The first part is bland and boring, and she’s having major pitch issues. It’s much better when she gets to the middle and goes all gospel on us, but the pitch issues remain. The last note could have been amazing, but she didn’t support it, and it fell flat.
Well, that’s our show for tonight. Another mixed bag of performances. We had the good (Alison, Danny, Kris), the amazing (Adam), and our soon-to-be Bottom 3 (Anoop, Matt, Lil). My money is on Matt being the first sent back to safety. Anoop and Lil should be very, very afraid. One of them is going home. Of course, I could be wrong, but I doubt it. Let’s find out together tomorrow. Same Steve Time. Same Steve Channel.