To the contestants on “American Idol,” if you’ve made it to this week’s Final Four, you’re either on the verge of winning it all, or of being a pretender and fading into the show’s collective oblivion soon. Mentor Jamie Foxx signified as much when he had t-shirts made up that said “contestant” and “artist,” and told each one of them that they had to earn their artist shirt this week to prove they are ready. Corny, yes, but effective and correct. The theme this week was songs from movies, which is about as vast a catalog as there is.

I was wondering how they were going to either stretch four performances into an hour, or cram eight performances into that hour. What they did was meet in the middle and have them perform two duets, making it a comfy six performances in the hour. Nicely done, producers.

Anyway, here is our recap….

THE REALLY GOOD

The duet between Lee Dewyze and Crystal Bowersox was flat-out awesome. They chose “Falling Slowly” from the movie Once. The song is great to begin with, but these two absolutely nailed it and had nice stage chemistry. Randy said it was a big difference from the first two solo performances (Lee and Mike)…Ellen said it was like watching the Captain and Tennille…Kara said they had great chemistry and it was one of the best moments of the season, and I agree completely….Simon said it was fantastic. Yep, pretty much.

THE GOOD

Crystal took on Kenny Loggins’ “I’m Alright” from the movie Caddyshack, and on the surface it seemed like an odd choice, but it was a very cool, funky version that proved one thing–Crystal wants to win it all. Randy said Crystal is a true artist but it wasn’t his favorite performance of hers….Ellen said she took the song and actually made it better than the original….Kara agreed with Ellen…and Simon said Crystal is now back in the game after a couple of mediocre weeks. Agreed.

THE PRETTY GOOD

Big Mike Lynche did Michael Jackson’s “Will You Be There” from Free Willy, and it seemed like a hard song to sing, but Mike did a pretty good job with it. However, the judges didn’t quite see it that way. Randy said it was a cool song choice, but he didn’t love it….Ellen said it was a bit predictable…Kara said she wanted something akin to when Mike did “Woman’s Work” and that he played it too safe…and Simon agreed with the other judges but said Mike did give it 100%.

THE MEDIOCRE

Lee kicked things off with Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose” and it just felt bland and out of tune. This was an instance where I questioned the fact that Lee has made it this far, because it totally lacked any star quality. Randy said Lee did nothing with the song and that it was just okay and pitchy in spots…Ellen said more could have been done with the song, but Lee is still so good….Kara said while Lee had a great week last week, this was a difficult song for him…and Simon said he agreed with Randy, that with so many great songs to choose from, this one sounded a bit karaoke-ish.

The duet between Casey James and Big Mike was Bryan Adams’ “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” and for me, it was pretty boring. I don’t like this song to begin with, and it wasn’t awful, but it was just, well, blah. However, the judges were freaking out about how good they thought it was. Say what? Randy said he loved Casey’s guitar playing and that the two sounded great together…Ellen said “I have loved a woman,” which was her best line of the season…Kara said both duets last night were incredible…and Simon said Jamie should give artist shirts to both duets. Whatever.

THE NOT SO GOOD

Casey’s solo performance was Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” from The Graduate, and I was questioning this choice from the start. And yeah, it was very, very bland. Talk about safe…this was the safest and worst song choice of the bunch last night. Randy said he wondered why Casey would choose that song but that he liked the cool, laid back version. He then started poking fun of Kara, who has had a crush on Casey all season, for obvious reasons…Ellen said Casey got beat up by the judges last week but she liked the way he changed things up this week….Kara said she liked the choice, and that he is fighting to stay in the competition….and Simon said the song and performance had no substance and that it came across as lazy. I totally agree with Simon on this one.

So that’s it. Crystal and Lee are probably safe, if anything because of that awesome duet. Mike and Casey will be in danger of heading home, and I’m going to say it again this week…it should be Casey’s time to board a plane back to Texas. But it wouldn’t surprise me if it was Big Mike either.

What do you all think? Let me know and we’ll see you back here tomorrow….

There were 147 contestants plucked out of the tens of thousands who auditioned in the eight cities last summer. And in last night’s episode, they whittled it down to 104, meaning only 43 were sent packing. This season, there are makeup artists and vocal coaches to get these singers ready to perform in front of the four judges, and even Barry Manilow was a surprise coach and speaker.

The contestants were then put into groups of eight, and each group had to line up on stage at the Kodak Theatre, and sing a cappella in front of Randy, Paula, Simon and Kara. Then they were asked to either step back or step forward, and one line or the other was told they were through to the next round, and the other line was headed home. Immediate elimination may seem cruel, but that’s Hollywood week, and song choice becomes crucial. With that, here were the good and bad…..

THE BAD

Dennis Brigham, the dude who had a dream about Simon in his initial audition and was liked by three of the four judges (not Simon), was less than stellar this time, and was a no for all four judges. But he kept saying he disagreed and was basically throwing a tantrum on his way out….Jesus Valenzuela, who I was surprised made it through the first time, didn’t make it this time….Erika Wesley, who made it through in San Juan, was not great this time, and every bit of begging the judges did not work, even though Paula dug her. Kind of shows you how much pull Ms. Abdul has, huh?

THE GOOD

Well look, there were far more good than bad last night, so we’ll blaze through as best as we can….Lil Rounds, who took on Whitney Houston, something the judges always warn against, did a really nice job and seems to be a judge favorite…Anoop Desai, who is very nerdy but has a really great voice….Jasmine Murray, who I can’t picture in my head, but I had “awesome” written in my notes….Rose Flack, the 17 year old blonde from Idaho, was nervous and had a rough rehearsal, but made it through…..Stephen Fuller took on Stevie Wonder, another bad idea, but performed admirably…Jorge Nunez, who I also wrote “awesome” next to….Von Smith, who shouted his whole audition but somehow won the judges over….Nick Mitchell, a.k.a. Norman Gentle, was shouty and awful, and yet somehow the judges can’t seem to get past the fact that there is a voice in there somewhere, and let him continue. Or maybe it’s for ratings….Scott, the dude who is legally blind, and Frankie, the girl with the guy’s name, both made it through as well.

Whew.

Jackie Tohn, who is a Janis Joplin old soul type, really has some pipes on her…..Danny, the guy who lost his wife recently to cancer, sang Seal’s “Kiss From a Rose,” and dare I say this, I am predicting Top 12 for this guy right here, right now. He was that good….Danny’s buddy Jamar also made it through….Katrina, who you all know as Bikini Girl, sang Faith Hill’s “Breathe” and I thought it was nasally and annoying, but once again Randy and Simon loved her and Paula and Kara didn’t. She made it to the next round anyway….Jeremy Sarver had a nice enough voice to where Randy said he was one of the best of the day…..David Osmond, naturally, made it through. I mean, he’s a freaking Osmond…..finally, Emily Wynn-Hughes, the band singer who left the band to pursue this, practiced a 1940’s song, chickened out and went with a No Doubt song at the last minute. Bad idea, and the judges chastised her for choosing the wrong song, but let her through anyway.

Okay, I just exhaled again. I can only imagine how tiresome it is for the judges to do this. Anyway, tonight is the infamous group performance round, to see how these contestants work together and how they can perform with the added pressure of relying on someone else. This is where “American Idol” starts to get fun, and we’ll recap it here tomorrow morning. See you then…..Mikey, out.