American Idol Top 7 Recap: 'Idols at the Movies'

Last night, the Top 7 American Idol contestants performed songs from movies, with guest mentor Quentin Tarantino. I'm not sure what a movie director brings to a music competition, but Tarantino definitely had some good advice for the contestants, if only from a performance perspective.

There was one quirky change to last night's show: since the performances ran long last week, putting the show past its one hour time slot, this week the judges gave feedback in teams of two. So each contestant only heard from either Randy & Kara, or Paula & Simon. Simon says the problem was the women talked too much the week before, but to be honest, this week wasn't any better. We still went 4 minutes too long, with a lot of unnecessary goofing around. That's what you get for adding a fourth judge, I guess.

In any event, the evening was split between great performances and so-so performances. Allison Iraheta opened with Aerosmith's "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing."  It's good, the way Allison always is, but I found it a little lacking in passion. Then again, it might just be this cold and sinus thing I've got going on. Hard to hear well with your ears completely plugged.

Anoop Desai proved that he's a much better singer than we've given him credit for, with his rendition of Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do I Do For You." I hate this song; it's boring. But Anoop gave it his personal touch and did a great job. I think he definitely proved he should stick around another week.

Adam Lambert did an electro/techno version of "Born To Be Wild;" like him or not, you can't deny that he's probably the best performer in the competition. In fact, he should just quit now and go start his career, because he may end up being the biggest success Idol has launched yet.

Matt Giraud gave it a good shot with another Bryan Adams' song, "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman." It's a song he says he loves but I think it might be one of the dumbest songs ever written. And he didn't sing it that well. He may end up in the bottom three tonight.

Danny Gokey gave "Endless Love" his trademark R&B touch, and while it was a little unusual with just one singer (as opposed to a duet) he did a great job on it. The song clearly had emotional meaning for him, and he brought all of that to the table last night.

Kris Allen picked an obscure song, "Falling Slowly," and while it wasn't his best performance, he proved yet again that he's likely to go all the way to the final three.

Lil Rounds closed out the show with "The Rose." She added some gospel flair to it, but like every other song she's done, she fell flat. I'm starting to think that she really isn't as good as we all thought she was, and her debating with Simon is just too sassy. Every week, it's the same excuse. I think it's time for Lil to go.

DialIdol.com has all of the contestants fair game for the bottom three, but predicts Danny Gokey safe. Ironically, it has Kris Allen with the fewest votes. It's not science, but the site does have an uncanny ability to predict winners based on the busy signals the voting lines get.

But what do you think? Who should go home tonight?

Joanne Brokaw is the host of the Gospel Soundcheck blog at Beliefnet.com. She's blogging about American Idol at NewChristianVoices.com. Check back every week for new posts and Idol updates!