'American Idol''s Top 7 Rock the Silver Screen

Before their big night, the contestants had received mentoring from star director Quentin Tarantino, who was on hand to watch the evening's cinema show unfold.

Allison Iraheta sang first, gruffing up Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" from 'Armageddon.' "You possess the same special sauce that [Adam] does," Paula Abdul complimented her, adding, "You are one remarkable, talented lady." Simon Cowell was on the same page, saying, "I think, Allison, you are the girls' only hope left in this competition right now." there was also a special guest in the audience on Tuesday night, Katie Couric -- and the famous TV personality was brought to her feet after Allison's performance!

Next, Anoop Desai crooned Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" from 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.' "The last couple of weeks for me you have found your zone," Randy Jackson told him. "It was in tune, you had some emotion jumping off it -- really good job." Kara DioGuardi agreed, saying, "I thought it was probably one of his best vocals tonight. When you made those changes in the melody, they were right, and they came from your heart."

Then, it was Adam Lambert's turn to bring the house down, and Paula to her feet, with "Born to Be Wild," made famous by Steppenwolf and off the 'Easy Rider' soundtrack. "Take it all in my dear," Paula urged Adam. "You dare to dance in the path of greatness." She added that "fortune rewards the brave and you're one of the bravest contestants I’ve witnessed ever." Simon didn't fully agree that the performance was a winner: "Vocally incredible," he conceded, but the "downside" was that "it was like watching 'The Rocky Horror' musical in parts." He added, "I don't think that performance will be as popular as your one last week."

Matt Giraud then took a seat to ponder Bryan Adams' musical question "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" from the Johnny Depp film 'Don Juan DeMarco.' "You fell down in more places tonight than you won," Randy leveled with Matt, and Kara wasn't in love with the performance either. "You took away some of the core melodies that made that song great," she said.

Next, Danny Gokey delivered an emotional, harp accompanied version of Lionel Richie's "Endless Love," from the movie of the same name. "From the opening of the performance I wasn't sure that the key should've been lowered," Paula admitted, noting though that Danny "pulled it together midway through the end" for an overall "beautiful, beautiful rendition." Simon wasn’t as kind: "I'm disappointed that we had the harp, and we had a very traditional version of the song," he said, adding, "I was kind of a bit bored."

Kris Allen followed with his tender take on the ballad "Falling Slowly" from the film 'Once.' "It never quite caught on for me," Randy said. "I love that song, but for me, it was pitchy from note one." Kara disagreed, telling Kris, "It was one of your best moments."

Finally, Lil Rounds sang "The Rose" from the Bette Midler movie of the same name. Paula said she felt that Lil choose a nice lyric to sing, but Simon cranked up the constructive criticism, telling Lil, "I think that you’re getting this competition wrong. The song was too soft for you, it was too middle of the road," adding, "you are not the artist I believe we met seven or eight weeks ago."

Tune in to the "Idol" results show on Wednesday night to see who, if anybody, gets sent home!

Published 4/14/09 by