Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Oh, Those Movies

When I think of movies with great music, I do not think of "Free Willy" and "Caddyshack" (even though Caddyshack is still one of Bill Murray's greatest comedic movies). And to be honest, as great as "Mrs. Robinson" is as a song, it's not a great song to showcase your talent. The producers made the best picks of the night with the duet performances, but I think the Idols were trying so hard to pick the less than obvious choice that they ended up picking weird stuff. With all of that said, the judges were a bit harsh tonight, but that's to be expected at this point in the competition. I would have loved to hear their choices for the contestants this week since there are "thousands" from which to choose. I'm not so sure their choices would have been any better.

Jamie Foxx was a good mentor again this year. I like how he really gets the contestants to emote and connect with the songs. He had the same effect last year as well.

Lee DeWyze: Let's just say this was not his best work. The song fit him a lot better than Randy thought, but it was a bit strange. As I like to say at this point, "it all comes down to personal preference." So, I think Lee should be safe another week.

Michael Lynche: Michael is just good. Was this the perfect song for this week? No. Was it a good performance? Yes. An R&B artist singing a Gospel song is not that big a stretch, Randy. Consider R&B's roots.

Casey James: Great song. Bad choice. Nice Mandolin. Somewhat original. He should have gotten more props and less teasing about Kara. This week was a "normal" Casey performance.

Crystal Bowersox: Another weird choice tonight, but of course she did very well. Plus, she had my favorite auxillary performer on stage with her, minus his washboard, plus his timbali/cowbell/conga drum/and more setup. Bagpipe dude hasn't made enough appearances to be considered a favorite . . . yet.

The duets were fantastic. Both songs are great, and the pairings were perfect. They were by far the highlights of the evening. Mad props to whichever staffer put those together.

So, here is my rank order of performances:

Crystal/Lee Duet
Michael/Casey Duet
Crystal (Cuban Percussionist Bonus)
The other three

Going Home, but not on the chartered jet: Casey

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it was like Simon expected the song to capture the essence of the entire plot of the movie. Rarely do music video plots and the lyrics of a song have much in common, much less entire movies.

Vivian said...

When I heard this week would be movie music, I was really looking forward to it. Music really intensifies the mood--makes the movie. Boy, was I disappointed. I haven't seen any of the movies the songs came from. What movie was Lee's song from? I've heard the song before, but I didn't know it came from a movie.
Anyway, loved the duets, disappointed in the solos. I like Jamie Foxx as a mentor. I've heard some talk of him replacing Simon next year. I agree with your rank order, but it is a toss up who will go home--Casey has a big following. From this point on, it is more who gets the votes than who is most talented.

Boquinha said...

Good point about Gospel and R&B.

I like the drum guy, too. Bagpipe dude as well. I'm glad that AI is finding other ways to entertain us. :) I still hope they bring back Paula.

Chelle said...

I have to tell ya, I was squirming in my family room as I watched Jamie Foxx get in their faces...making them to sing directly to him while looking into his eyes. I doubt the contestants/"artists" could even focus on his eyes, however, because he was so close to them. I hoped no one had eaten onions in their omelette that morning. I get what he was doing but it was just a bit bizarre for my tastes.

I admit that I had my doubts when they announced upcoming duets, but I agree that they were some hot stuff. How is is that the duets were better than the solos?

Is there a way to find out next week's theme? Do they tell us tonight, or do we have to wait until next week? I feel like I'm an AI novice all over again this year.

Dr. Mark said...

"Kiss from a Rose" is from the movie "Batman Forever," one of the forgettable Batman movies. Kind of matches last night's theme: Strange Movie Music Choices.

In the past the Top 3 sing a few songs, one of which is a judges' choice.

Robynne said...

Right on about the Casey stuff, Mark... I am TIRED of them continually bringing up the Casey/Kara thing - it's been the judges doing it from the start and it's O-L-D!! I also thought you were right about the "thousands" to choose from, I don't think the judges would have done any better. We'll see next week if it's "judges pick"! :)

Boquinha said...

Rachelle, I was squirming, too. Hello personal space! And I kept wondering if they'd all had mints, too. :P

Boquinha said...

Oh yeah, and usually during their "hometown visits," they get a fax with a song the judges have picked for them. Should be fun!

J Fo said...

I was squirming when Jamie got in their faces too! It hurt my space bubble to watch that!

Kara/Casey thing is so annoying (and immature), and I'm sick of them bringing it up. What is Randy, like 10?!