American Idol: Lights, Camera, Top 4!

So the top four go out after Aaron Kelly got cut last week. Now the four get to sing songs of the movies. A rich collection of songs that we enjoyed while sitting in a theater listening to quadraphonic sound. And away we go. . .

Lee DeWyze: B, Doing "Kiss From A Rose", he sounded a bit "pitchy" to quote Randy. He did the song and it sounded like. . .the song. Nothing popped out and said "WoW!" to me. If I could choose a song for him I would do "If I Didn't Have You" from Monster's Inc. I know it seems a bit cheesy, but I think it would of fit Lee's voice well.

Michael Lynche: B+, Big Mike did "Will You Be There" from Free Willy. I must say that I love that he brought the song back to my ears b/c I completely forgot about it. That being set aside, I think he did great, but once again not a huge "WoW!" factor. I love the fact that Simon had never seen or even heard of the plot of Free Willy, it was hilarious. If I had choose a better song from the movies, I would say "I Just Called to Say I Love You" by Stevie Wonder. That, I think, would have been great and more emotion would have been evoked as he sang to his wife.

Duet #1: Crystal & Lee. Doing "Falling Slowly"from Once, it really sounded like a record for that movie's remake. It was really good. Where was this Lee during his solo performance? We can only hope Crystal does just as good maybe better.

Casey James: B+, So he survived a disastrous Sinatra week and came back with "Ms. Robinson" from The Graduate. I liked the fact that he did a laid back version of the song. It sounded sort of like IZ's version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. The problem was, once again, it wasn't a "WoW!er". Something important on a big night like this. I would have done "Footloose", but it may have been difficult to pull an original version for tonight.

Crystal Bowersox: A-, She was the first (and only, by default) one tonight to make me go "WoW!" Doing "I'm Alright" from Caddyshack, she blew it out of the water. Simon didn't watch movies on his way to being record executive b/c he didn't know what Caddyshack was about either. I would have chosen "Let the River Run" by Carly Simon.

Duet #2: Casey & Michael. They did "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?" and Casey started out shaky, but Mike got him back on track and they flew away with it. I loved Ellen's quip at the end.

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Overall it would have been a "WoW!"-less night had it not been for the duets. I think there were better choices for everyone to take and blow something out of the water. Lee was the weakest tonight. Could it lead to his demise? I'm unsure b/c it is so hard to pick at this stage. We'll have to see what happens 24 hours from now. J out.