Inside Idol

Forget JLo's crying: Rosen & Alaina emerge as worthy favorites in Idol's longmarch to top 24

Robbie Rosen brings a combination of confidence and musical talent.
Jennifer Lopez went Idol soft, but her tears aren't the real story.
Lauren Alaina has ridiculous raw talent — and an equally ridiculous fashionsense.

After weeks of Hollywood rounds, a new Beatles challenge in Las Vegas and a set of comically long walks down the “Green Mile” (in what appeared to be an airport hangar), the top 24 contestants were finally revealed this week on American Idol. Props to the producers for giving almost every one of the successful contestants a fair amount of airplay — though it meant three whole hours for the reveal — and for generally cutting out the drama. Even Jennifer Lopez’s much buzzed about “breakdown” after Chris Medina's elimination felt as sincere to me as it did milked.

At the end of it all, we have an interesting and technically solid group of semifinal contestants, distinct and polished in a way that reminds me of the Season 7 cast. With so many big voices and personalities, the key to staying on top will be finding ways to make powerful, genuine connections to the music. As Jennifer so aptly put it: “Now we gotta see what you guys’ messages are as artists. What do you have to say? Do you believe what you’re singing?”

Next week we enter the live rounds as the 24 contestants are whittled quickly down to 12 — or 13. Lets take a quick a snapshot of the group that will sing for your votes:

The Chosen Ones

It’s tricky business being an early front-runner on Idol: every year one or two “anointed” contestants face early backlash from the public and the near impossible task of living up to initial hype. This year’s batch includes Robbie Rosen, Julie Zorrilla, Lauren Alaina, Jacob Lusk  and Casey Abrams.

Robbie and Lauren have impressed me equally — Robbie with his skilled combination of confidence and musical instinct, and Lauren with her ridiculous, raw natural talent (for her inexplicable Barbie-meets-tacky-cowgirl fashion sense, I will just have to forgive her).

Julie’s first audition with “Summertime” left me thinking “style over substance,” but we’ve since seen shades of subtlety from her, like on her superb “Something" duet with Tim Halperin. Jacob is one hell of a singer, but his notion that every performance demands every ounce of his voice is ill founded and unfortunately perpetuated by the judges (seriously, Randy, his “God Bless the Child” was the best performance of all Idol seasons?).

And Casey? When you not only have flawless pipes but can fully — fully — invest in your performances the way he does, you have my vote.

Hidden Talents

Blink and you might have missed Paul McDonald,Lauren Turnerand Kendra Chantelle these past few weeks, seeing as the talented trio received little to no airtime. That’s a shame, because each shows promise and originality. Paul’s quirky, nuanced voice is unlike anything we’ve heard before on Idol. His “Blackbird” duet partner, Kendra, is equally intriguing, with a voice that teeters delicately between soul and country (does she remind anyone else of Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott?). And Lauren infuses some much-needed grit into the pool of girls with her bluesy, muscular voice.

Let’s just remember that we didn't hear so much as a snippet of season nine winner Kris Allen’s voice until the live semifinals — anything’s possible, folks.

Head Scratchers

Hailey Reinhart seems to be taking a page from Jacob Lusk's playbook; her oversung performances have been so squeezed and stretched that you can barely understand what she’s singing about. Joining her in the questionable decision camp is the inconsistent Tatynisa Wilson, the unremarkable Pia Toscano and the why-can’t-I-figure-out-why-I-don’t-like-her Thia Megia, whose technically proficient performances have left me cold.

And then there are two of the most polarizing contestants of the season: James Durbin and Scotty McCreery. The rocker displays an impressive range and an admirable drive, but I still don’t hear brilliance — or correct pitch — from him. The latter sang a spot-on version of (surprise!) Josh Turner’s “Long Black Train,” but there’s something detached about his persona that I can’t quite put my finger on.

And the Rest

Rounding out the rest of the Top 24 are:

Unique performers Rachel Zevita, Naima Adedapoand Brett Loewenstern
Powerhouses Clint Jun Gamboa and Jordan Dorsey
Smooth-toned Jovany Barreto and Stefano Langone 
Big-voiced Karen Rodriguez and Ashton Jones 
And singer-songwriter Tim Halperin

Quote of the Night

“I’m here to prove that people like me can be sexy”

-Casey Abrams before his delicious, bass-accompanied take on “Why Don’t You Do Right”

Get more of Tara Seetharam's pop culture musings on her website www.taraseetharam.comand follow her on Twitter @TaraAshley.

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Movie Review

Animated Lord of the Rings prequel offers nostalgic return to Rohan

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Hèra (Gaia Wise) in The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

The Peter Jackson-led Lord of the Rings movie trilogy in the early 21st century was such a smashing success that people have been trying to recreate that magic for a long time. First came the ill-conceived The Hobbittrilogy, which made lots of money despite mostly poor reviews. The recent Amazon TV series, The Rings of Power, has gotten generally good reviews, but doesn’t seem to hold a place in the wider pop culture consciousness.

And now comes The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an anime-style film that seems like an attempt at both reclaiming the world in animated form from the weird 1978 film, and a nostalgia play for fans of the original series. Set 200 years before the events in J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, it nonetheless takes place in two very familiar locations that are recreated to appear exactly like they looked in Jackson’s films.

The story centers around Hèra (voiced by Gaia Wise), the only daughter of King Helm (Brian Cox) of Rohan. An early conflict with Lord Freca (Shaun Dooley) leads Freca’s son, Wulf (Luca Pasqualino), to develop a deep grudge against Helm and his family. Wulf pursues that ill will for years, eventually driving his foes into a fortress in a valley to make a final stand against his aggression.

Based on information found in the appendices of Tolkien’s novels, this is the rare instance when choosing to use animation holds back the creativity of a film. Typically, animation allows filmmakers to do things that wouldn’t be possible in the real world, but director Kenji Kamiyama and his team seem beholden to the look of Jackson’s films. While the animation itself is great, it doesn’t offer the fluidity of live action, and so the action scenes are often stilted and flat.

The story itself is not very compelling, as a quartet of screenwriters have concocted a plot that relies on revenge and heroism tropes that allow the audience to predict almost everything that happens. There are a few surprises to be had, but as the conflict revolves around a strong-willed female and her unwillingness to be told whom to marry, it’s generally clear how the story will be resolved, with only the specific details left to be discovered.

It also would have been great if the film weren’t so dependent on nostalgia for the original films. The two main locations are ones that played a big part in set pieces from those films, and their usage here doesn’t measure up favorably. Eowyn (Miranda Otto) serves as narrator, and other characters/actors from the original trilogy also make appearances, leaving little room for this film to establish itself on its own terms.

The majesty of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, with its New Zealand vistas and incomparable visuals created by Wētā Workshop, set a high bar that none of the subsequent projects have been able to meet. The War of the Rohirrim is a competently-made film, but it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny with the Oscar-quality work of 20+ years prior.

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The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim opens in theaters on December 13.

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