April 2, 2007: Movie Magic
I can't go so far as to say it was an all-out theme night, but about half of last night's celebrities got inspiration for their dances from movies. First Edyta took
John Ratzenberger to a
Valentino movie to get inspired for the tango. This seemed to work in terms of him getting into character for the dance. I was impressed with his facial expressions and intensity, but I think that was the strongest part of his dance. The judges pointed out that he needs to make some technical improvements, and it did seem like Edyta was working extra hard making big movements around him. He deservedly got one of the lowest scores of the evening.
Movie inspiration proved far more successful for one of the top scorers of the night (there was a four-way tie),
Joey Fatone. While I wasn't crazy about the
Stars Wars theme music (I found it and the lights a bit distracting), I have to acknowledge that it was a really good tango. The fact that Joey is so into
Star Wars gave his performance extra edge, and their costumes just completed the whole package. Likewise,
Apolo's homage to
Pulp Fiction was spot-on with the hairstyles, costumes and signature dance moves. I thought it was refreshing to see a jive that was something other than a traditional bobby-sox performance. He got a pretty good score, but the judges were a bit too harsh in their criticism of him. Their footwork didn't appear to be as sloppy as they made it out to be, and
Len's criticism of their onstage dance moves was odd: Many of the dances in this show start out like that.
As harsh as the judges were with Apolo, they were even harsher with
Laila. She and Max did a sultry tango to a
James Bond song, but she was chastised for having "pancake hands," and then the judges came down hard on them for breaking the hold, which translated into breaking the rules. Suddenly I had déjà vu, thinking back to last season's rule-breaking ballroom bad boys
Mario and
Joey. I hope we don't have to go through weeks of that scolding again. The blame for this ultimately lies with the professional dancer, and I don't think perfectionist Max was used to getting yelled at like that, so perhaps he won't do it again.
Tom and
Samantha wouldn't even let Max speak, as they were afraid he was going to just go off. (On a side note, how much fun was it meeting Max's also-a-dancer brother during the practice scenes? If you closed your eyes, they sounded exactly alike.)
It seems to me that the judges are being stricter with early front-runners such as Apolo and Laila. How else to explain their unanimous praise of
Leeza Gibbons? Now she didn't use a movie theme, but her performance brought to mind for me an '80s classic:
Mannequin. Whereas John had an intensity in his face, Leeza had a kind of plastic stiffness. But hey, the judges liked it. They said she did a proper tango that they called simple and basic. I would call it boring.
Also lacking some excitement was
Clyde the Glide's jive. But his warm, engaging smile goes a long way in making up for the lack of big movements in his performance (or his "procedure" as he referred to it backstage). Here the judges were correct in pointing out that he regressed a little: Instead of dancing big, he's dancing small again.
In contrast to Clyde, some celebrities were able to follow the judges' advice from previous weeks.
Ian worked hard on improving his hip shaking, and the work paid off. His energetic jive was the best of the night, in my opinion, and the judges told him he "nearly got a 9." Apparently, he had some missteps at the end of his performance, but they were difficult for my nonprofessional eyes to spot. (Also, what happened to the camera at the end of his performance? They were still dancing, but the camera fell or something; instead of seeing Ian and Cheryl, I saw some lights.)
Like Ian,
Shandi displayed marked improvement from last week. She admitted that being in the bottom two humbled her, and that resulted in more effort from her. But there's still room for improvement: The judges pointed out that she lets her free arm "flail," and that was noticeable throughout her performance. Also noticeable:
Billy Ray's counting during his performance. Last week he was singing, this week he was counting. Yet there's something endearing about that. The judges labeled him "still most improved." The effort he's putting in is admirable and welcomed by the judges. I'm not saying he's going to make it into the finals, but for now, the strides he's making are genuinely entertaining to watch. And he's stretching - he danced to a non-country song this week.
Heather doesn't seem to be stretching beyond the box of primary Crayola colors for her wardrobe choices (hello again, yellow!), but that's sort of becoming a staple for her. And cartwheels are becoming her signature move (a "front walkover" instead of a back one this time).
Carrie Ann made a good point in saying that she doesn't need to overcompensate with those theatrical moves. I can understand how the inherent bounciness of the jive was a huge challenge for her, but she pulled it off remarkably well with a peppy, sneaker-clad performance.
So who's going home Tuesday? I'm going to say the bottom two will be Shandi (because of her presence there last week, suggesting a small fan base) and Clyde (because of his ranking at the very bottom of the scoreboard last night). Let's see if I'm 0-2.
