Welcome to movie night. Ironically enough, we don't have the introductory voice of Mark Thompson (who would probably make a nice Don LaFontaine. We miss you, Don.) We also won't have 4 judges critiquing each Idolist - thanks to the 10 minute overrun from last week, there will only be 2 judges commenting after each song, bouncing back and forth between the duo of Randy Jackson/Kara DioGuardi and the duo of Paula Abdul/Simon Cowell.

We welcome back Quentin Tarantino to American Idol. And yes, I do mean welcome back, because he was a guest judge when American Idol went to the movies during Season 3. Tarantino's film credits include Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill BIll, Jackie Brown, Death Proof and the soon to be released Inglorious Bastards. Though Quentin was at the judges table during season 3, he is in the audience tonight, which is too bad because FOX should have extended the show to 90 minutes just so we could hear what Tarantino thinks.

Allison Iraheta starts us off with Aerosmith's 'I Don't Want To Miss a Thing' from Armageddon
The Good: It's rock, so she picked a good song for her vocals. And the red and black matching outfit shows that in addition to presence lessons from Quentin Tarantino, she may have also gotten some fashion tips from Heidi Klum.
The Bad: But though it matches her vocal tone, the song itself has a very limited vocal range. Hence, it creates an 'okay' performance that will not get her a broader fan base, which you need at this stage of the game. And although the spunky attitude and brass showmanship were there, it was at the cost of the pitch, which at the end of the song felt like it was incinerated by one of the passing asteroids.
The Jason: While the Song Choice is in her wheelhouse...The breathy voice in the first half bothered me...and I felt her vocal performance was all over the place. She didn't hit the money notes. She could be in big trouble tonight...especially if Adam kills it.
The Verdict: Boring. It's good enough that she won't be eliminated, but I don't know if it's good enough for her to avoid the bottom three.

And the reason why I think that Allison won't be eliminated is because Anoop Desai's time on the show is clearly numbered. With 2 bad performances combined with eroding charisma due to talking back to the judges, Anoop needs an Oscar-winning performance - and I'm not sure that's going to be enough. His choice of song is 'Everything I do, I Do For You', by Bryan Adams, from the movie Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.
The Good: He goes back to his wheelhouse, which is ballady pop (not R&B, as he has said a few times). He executes the song very well. And he also gets his fashion plate going on, finally going formal and professional instead of college prep boy. Definitely one of the best that we have heard from him. And fortunately for him, because only 2 judges are critiquing the singers, Simon isn't going after Anoop tonight.
The Bad: So I will. Very rough at the beginning of the song. And we may need Bryan Adams to come out there and gag him to prevent him from speaking when he's not singing.
The Jason: Anoop had to deliver a huge performance tonight and he did. His vocals were spot on. And his emotional connection was great. He saved himself tonight.
The Verdict: Anoop needed an Oscar-winning performance. He may have gotten it. At the very least, he put Matt Giraud and Lil Rounds on notice to match him.

Adam Lambert decides to fly so high with 'Born To Be Wild' by Steppenwolf (from the movie Easy Rider). And he certainly is born to be wild, if you've been reading the New York Times or been scoping the internet lately.
The Good: It's traditional Adam Lambert. He's rocking. He's rolling. He's hitting the high notes. He's a human Maxell commercial.
The Bad: This reminds me of Constantin Maroulis during the Round of 7 - and this is where Maroulis started to taper off. It seemed like a let down this week because instead of putting on a vocal clinic like he's done the past 2 weeks, Adam concentrated more on performance and the old, polarizing Adam. And since he admitted that he's a Rocky Horror Picture Show Fan, I'll throw out there that him and Tim Curry could be dueting on the stage, singing about the excessive dark makeup he has caked on his face.
The Jason: He never fails to disappoint...while this could have been a flameout...he didn't. Again he has it all. I loved the arrangement...he was original and fresh and different. Whoa.
The Verdict: I disagree with Jason and completely agree with Simon, who liked last week better. This week displayed an Adam that's fun and carefree - but this is a singing competition, and that song does him no favors. Adam won't be in trouble tonight (and if he is, the judges will save him), but that performance was a step backwards.

Next up, it's Don Juan de Matt Giraud, who wishes to croon us with 'Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman' by Bryan Adams from the movie Don Juan De Marco. Can he swoon the audience?
The Good: He picked the right song. The song is a beautiful choice, with a high range that you can really exploit. And he can make love to the camera like the best of them.
The Bad: While the selection was perfect, the execution was ghastly. Really pitchy during the opening piano solo and consistently missed the money notes during the expositional section. I expected a musketeer to walk out on stage, unsheath his sword and slay the 88 keyed beast.
The Jason: Matt has a problem tonight. He was just there. This was as boring and bland as vanilla ice cream. It was just good. Not great. And especially after Anoop killed it.
The Verdict: Jason hit it right on the head. Anoop and Matt are in the same R&B/Pop/Ballad contingency, and the voters have to decide between these 2. As the group knows Anoop is in danger and he just sang Matt into the floor. This could cause some major problems for Mr. Giraud this evening.

Danny Gokey is inspired to play some guitar....but not now. Instead, he decides to give us some 'Endless Love', from the movie of the same name, by Lionel Richie. Quentin wants to see Danny deliver. Will he?
The Good: Like Matt, Danny picked the right song. Unlike Matt, Danny delivered. The second half of the song was as passionate and emotional as anything we've heard tonight. And the way he stared upwards at the end of the song as a dedication to his late wife was classic.
The Bad: A really bad pitch transition in the beginning of the song got me very nervous that Lionel Richie was going to come on the stage and ask for a divorce.
The Jason: Very good song choice. And his voice sounded like Michael McDonald and he hit the money notes. I liked this a lot.
The Verdict: Simon wanted Danny to make the song his own, but I think that Danny did the right thing and made it a traditional rendition to honor his beloved. That being said, he needs to be more creative if he wants a chance to win this. He's very safe now, but we, as an audience, want more.

Kris Allen decides to hit a song called 'Falling Slowly' from the movie Once. You haven't heard of it? Me neither, but it did win the Academy Award in 2008 for Song of the Year, so maybe it's a good choice.
The Good: We know why he picked the song - the money notes at the end. That had to be the sole reason why he selected that song. Fortunately for him, he hit those notes.
The Bad: After hearing the song, I'm not sure if I want to hear it again. Despite the last 2 or 3 money notes, 95% of that was sleep inducing. And I don't think the song would have won the Oscar for Movie Song of the year if it was sung as flat as he sang it tonight.
The Jason: This song won the Academy Award for Best Song in 2008. This is going to put Kris Allen in the bottom three. Combine a self-indulgent choice with a bad performance and a song no one knew...you have problems.
The Verdict: Decent performance on a horrible choice of song. It's self-indulgent, and I wonder if Kris is over-estimating his fan base. I think he may be and I think it hurts him this evening.

Lil Rounds ends the night of movies with Bette Midler's 'The Rose'. She decides to add some attitude and gospel to achieve better reviews from the judges.
The Good: Hey, we got attitude! We got a unique performance! We got a good vocal! We got...
The Bad: ...a real boring rendition of a great song. I know what Lil wanted to do when she decided to gospel the song up. The problem is for that rendition to work, you need a big husky dog, and we only got a sleek cute puppy. I mean we like puppies, but you needed a dog here. And you definitely need to be a dog if you're going to argue with Simon. Too bad there wasn't as much bark in the performance.
The Jason: Finally we have the Lil Moment we have been waiting for. This was big, and she sang loud and proud. Love the arrangement and R&B tinge to it.
The Verdict: Not the song I would have picked, and not the version I would have sang. Although she deserves to be in the bottom 3, her fan base will show up and rescue her because they were put on alert last week.

Overall Verdict: No one wanted to do anything from Sponge Bob Squarepants? I figured it's popular enough, especially with Burger King's I Like Square Butts......ok., I kid. But one thing I'm serious about is that we had 3 boring performances, so this week, it's simple.

Trouble: Allison Iraheta, Matt Giraud, Kris Allen

Allison will be saved by her generic rock fans and be sent back to the happy couch. Matt and Kris will be in the bottom - Kris for being self-indulgent, and Matt for being bad. Last week, I realized how strong Kris' fan base is. I believe that the same fan base will bail him out, while Matt's R&B fans will vote to bail out Anoop and Lil (who both out-performed him), leaving him without a voting base.

OUT: Matt Giraud (With no Save)

The Jason: This was a pretty good night over all. But we have (yet again) a pretty obvious bottom three. Matt Giraud's performance was bland. Alison's performance was not up to her standards and Kris Allen picked out an obscure song to sing. So....

TROUBLE: Matt Giraud, Kris Allen, Alison Iraheta.

Alison goes back to the chair because her performance was liked by the judges. Matt and Kris are in the bottom 2....so here's the deal. Matt was bland...but Kris was incredibly self-indulgent and boring. The song choice kills him. Bye bye Kris.

OUT- Kris Allen (With no Save)

Join us in 24 hours to see who gets the Golden Raspberry for Worst Idolist on Movie Night.