Idol Worship

Best American Idol season ender ever? Beyoncé, Lady Gaga & Scott McCreery makeit special

Scotty McCreery,right, is the latest American Idol. He beat out Lauren Alaina,left.
Beyonce added star power to the show.......
....along with Lady Gaga

After Tuesday night’s poorly produced performance episode, last night’s American Idol finale was a breath of fresh air, punctuated by engaging performances and a willingness to poke fun where necessary. I was disappointed we didn’t get a final Lauren Alaina / Scotty McCreery duet as in past seasons, but there were still plenty of highlights to choose from:

Top 13, “Born This Way” medley – A ridiculous and fitting choice all at once. The animated Top 13 made the most of the anthem, cheesy choreography and all. It was a trip to see contestants like Scotty McCreery and Casey Abrams dig into the whole thing with reckless abandon.
Casey Abrams & Jack Black, “Fat Bottom Girls” – There were a handful of great duets last night, but I’m not sure any of them were more entertaining than this one. Abrams and Black infused the performance with the spirit and commitment of the best SNL parodies - and they actually sounded pretty good together.
Top 13 Girls, Beyonce medley – I don’t know that we’ve ever had a fiercer, more dynamic group of girls in the finals. Sure, Beyonce schooled the whole crew when she came out guns blazing on “Crazy in Love,” but who doesn’t pale in comparison to Sasha Fierce? The girls brought impressive individual swagger and vocals to the slew of hits.
Haley Reinhart & Tony Bennett, “Steppin’ Out With My Baby” – I love how this song drew out the delicious, feathery-light jazz side of Reinhart’s voice, and I adored the sweet dance intermission. I’ll say it again: Reinhart has grown into herself as an artist in a big way this season.
Scotty McCreery & Tim McGraw, “Live Like You Were Dying” – Maybe it was the song or maybe it was the adrenaline rush, but McCreery has never sounded better. It was a telling glimpse into his future as a recording artist - and how cute was their high five at the end?
Idol humor– Props to the producers for recognizing that a little self-parody goes a long way. My favorite segment showed the contestants musing over the young age of the final two contestants (the best: “So we have like two sixth graders in the competition and they’re kicking everyone’s ass” – Stefano Langone). Close seconds were the James Durbin / Casey Abrams / Pia Toscano fight over the “most shocking elimination” title and Randy’s “in it to win it” (never again, please) montage.
Lady Gaga, “The Edge of Glory” – Yeah, the performance got a little over-the-top towards the end, but if this song isn’t in the sweet spot of her vocal range, I don’t know what is. She sounded amazing, and maybe I totally dug the saxophone interlude. Don’t judge.
The results – Those who’ve been following me this season know that I’ve always been more drawn to the color and character of Alaina’s voice - but a sense of satisfaction washed over me when McCreery took the crown. Take a look at his best qualities –his firm sense of self, solid vocal talent, consistent performances and endearing sincerity—and you’ll see that he’s made of the same stuff of the previous Idol winners, albeit wrapped in a different, straightforward package. His post-Idol career will be an interesting one to follow, as he delves into a country music industry that doesn’t always seem willing to shed light on traditionalist artists like himself. Here’s to hoping he knocks down some doors and is met by people who allow him to embrace his individuality.

And that’s a wrap, folks. Share your thoughts on the finale below, and sincere thanks to all of you for taking this wacky ride with me this season!

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

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Movie Review

Action-packed Kraven the Hunter showcases gritty Marvel antihero

Photo by Jay Maidment

Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Kraven the Hunter.

One of the oddest things about the blockbuster era we live in is that while Disney owns the rights to the majority of Marvel comic book characters, Sony Pictures owns the rights to Spider-Man and any affiliated characters. Since they’re sharing Spider-Man himself with Disney, Sony has been trying to capitalize on those rights by making stand-alone films using niche characters that only comic book fanatics would know.

Having exhausted Venom and whiffed on attempts with Morbius and Madame Web, they’re trying again with Kraven the Hunter. Also known as Sergei Kravinoff, Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is a self-styled vigilante who, as the film tells it, travels the world exacting vengeance on the truly bad people of the world. He’s the son of Nikolai (Russell Crowe), a hard-edged Russian oligarch, and brother to Dmitri (Fred Hechinger), who is relatively weak compared to the rest of his family.

The origin story has Kraven gaining his animal-like powers - including super-strength, speed, and jumping abilities - as a teenager from a mysterious serum given to him by a girl named Calypso (played as an adult by Ariana DeBose) after he was mauled by a lion. The two maintain a tenuous partnership as adults, with Calypso helping him hunt down other villains like Aleksei Sytsevich (Alessandro Nivola) and The Foreigner (Christopher Abbott).

Directed by J.C. Chandor and written by Richard Wenk, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway, the film looks and feels enormously lazy, something made merely to hold on to potentially valuable intellectual property. Other than the tense family dynamic between the Kravinovs, little makes sense in the story. Kraven has an indecipherable moral code that has him going after poachers - because he’s part lion? - in addition to other high-powered criminals, with no clear goal except to … get back at his father?

The laziness extends to the action scenes, which feature Kraven being mostly impervious to any damage, whether it’s hand-to-hand combat, knives, or guns. The CGI-heavy scenes don’t even allow moviegoers to enjoy an R-rated bloody free-for-all, as all of the blood splatter is computer-generated, too. Since apparently one Spider-Man villain is not enough, three others make appearances with abilities that are under-explained and CGI that is poorly done.

That’s not even counting Calypso, another Spider-Man villain whose purpose in this film is nebulous at best. Her early connection with Kraven is so coincidental as to be laughable, and her continued reasons for helping him as an adult strain credulity as well. The only saving grace of her presence is that the filmmakers don’t try to shoehorn romance into the plot; perhaps they’re saving that for the (inevitable?) sequel.

Taylor-Johnson has had one of the most prolific-yet-anonymous careers in modern Hollywood, with appearances in big films like The Fall Guy, Bullet Train, and Tenet that have made very little impact. Even as the star here, he fails to hold your attention, with the story and visuals doing him no favors. DeBose has followed up her Oscar win for West Side Story with schlock like I.S.S., Argylle, and this, which doesn’t bode well for her career. At least Crowe gets to chew the scenery.

With a contractual inability to mention the name “Spider-Man,” movies like Kraven the Hunter exist in a weird area that forces filmmakers to make up stories for characters to which most people have no attachment. And just like Sony’s previous efforts, it is a very poor way to spend two hours in a movie theater; avoid at all costs.

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Kraven the Hunter opens in theaters on December 13.

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