'The X Factor' Season 1, Episode 13 Recap - 'Top 11 Perform'

It's "Movie Night" at "The X Factor," which means Adam Sandler and Al Pacino are on the show's red carpet. Sandler I can understand: he has a big movie coming out that he needs to promote. But what the holy hell is Pacino doing there? Is he just a fan? I bet he's a big fan of Josh.

So, last week we saw InTENsity (finally) go home, which cuts Paula's category down to just two. Will the Stereo Hogzz be in the bottom two again? They'll have to give a pretty great performance tonight to get the audience back on their side.

The judges enter to the "Star Wars" theme, of all things. Why, because they're rebels? Oh, right, Movie Night. All the songs will be from movies this evening. I would've gone with "Send In the Clowns." Was that in a movie?

Okay, it all makes sense now: Al Pacino is also in Sandler's train wreck of a movie, and the X Factor gang went to the premiere. So, that's why we're getting this clip package of the contestants taking pics with Sandler, Katie Holmes, and others. Drew loved the movie, which makes sense as I think it's aimed at 14-year-olds. They can't seem to get a glowing endorsement of the movie from anyone other than Drew.

Stacey is up first, and there's a lot of hoopla about the fact that it's a "big diva number." The song is Whitney Houston's "Queen of the Night" from "The Bodyguard," and even though L.A. co-wrote it, he thinks it's a bad song choice. After she dances around (a bit breathlessly), he admits that it was better than he thought.

Simon thinks that Nicole combined Stacey and Paula into one person, which is a horrible thought. Stacey seems to be enjoying herself anyway, though it does have that air of "I'm over 40 but I don't want to be so I'm going to act like a teenager to compensate."

Marcus Canty is the next to take the stage, and he's taking it down a notch from last week's performance with a very sparkly rendition of "I'm Going Down." A song which, by the way, Jazzlyn sang at auditions. Way to vary it up, guys. Marcus has trouble taking his jacket off (maybe it blinded him?) but he really performs the song. I don't know how well he sang it, but he performed it well.

Simon thinks it was "a thousand percent better than last week." I thought last week was pretty good, but I guess I'm not an expert like Mr. V-neck over there. Simon also notes that Marcus should dress himself to avoid the sequined jackets. If anything, it will prevent seizures from the viewers at home.

To introduce Drew, Simon tries to say "From one of my favorite movies, 'You Me and Dupree,'" without laughing. He fails. This is all to get Drew to sing "Fix You" by Coldplay, which I guess was on that movie's soundtrack. Whatever, do what you have to... I'm excited to hear Drew sing this song, despite it being overplayed of late (it was featured on "The Voice" and "Glee" this year).

It's a short performance, but a colorful one. No, literally, Drew is dressed like a lopsided rainbow and there are animations of paint splashes on the screens behind her. L.A. notes that she was great, but needs to vary it up a bit, and then launches into a five-minute discussion on "You Me and Dupree" and how he's never heard of it. Good. This is a good use of our time.

That's followed, though, by a fantastic moment in which Paula tells Drew she doesn't like her dress and that she "shouldn't take fashion advice from Simon." Simon then responds with "Drew designed that dress." DEAD SILENCE. Oh, that was gorgeous. As L.A. said, "ooooooh."

Leroy is up next, and it looks like he'll be doing some U2. "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is the choice, and Nicole is crying within the first 16 bars. To be fair, though, Leroy is pretty great, and this song works for him. It opens him up a bit and puts him a little in that Josh Krajcik-ish growling range.

The judges love it too, and Simon gives him a glowing review, saying it was his best performance yet. Agreed. Not a mention of of confidence, too, in that round of comments. Whoops, spoke too soon. Steve said it.

Lakoda Rayne takes the stage for your weekly dose of country/pop fusion. This week, it's "I Wanna Love Somebody Like You" by Keith Urban. The harmonies aren't as tight this week as they were when the girls did "Landslide," but you could chalk that up to all the walking around and stuff.

At least they're not dressed in prom dresses this week. L.A. says they're his "favorite girl group in the competition." See what he did there? Simon calls last week's performance "an absolute horror show," but now calls them "the girl group I hoped you'd become."

Hey, did you notice that little back-and-forth between Simon and Paula? Yeah, that was written for them. I'll bet you $10.

Astro's up next, and we're given a little reminder about the fact that this kid is writing his own material every week. Are the other contestants doing that? No they aren't. They're singing Keith Urban songs. Astro's performance is his version of "Lose Yourself" by Eminem, and I think he managed a reference to his pancreas in there. Awesome. Bonus pancreas points.

The crowd goes nuts, and rightfully so. That was a lot to write in one week, and if Astro can do that every week through the end of this competition, he absolutely deserves to win. Simon makes a note of it when he lauds Astro's work ethic. Gotta admit, the kid is winning me over more and more every week.

Next up is Melanie, who is dealing with a sore throat. Is she going to lip sync? Hard to tell so far. Keep your eyes peeled, guys. Her song is "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson, which is just fine, but the dissolving words on the screen are a little hokey. Equality! Love! Peace! Change!

At the end, she looks up to heaven to, I assume, acknowledge MJ. No comment.

L.A. gets in some trouble for saying that Melanie just does the same kinds of songs every week. Nicole calls Melanie's voice "a vessel of the light." What?

The Stereo Hogzz are up, and they and Paula express shock over them having been in the bottom two last week. Then they start up with "Ain't No Other Man." Interesting. The screen behind them once again introduces them by name, probably in a bid to get us to identify with them finally.

The vocals are once again so-so, but the performance is great. The design was very cool, with that retro feel to it. L.A. liked the performance, but isn't familiar with the song. Really?! "That was a big Christina record," Paula points out. "From which decade?" L.A. asks. Was this guy in a coma for the last ten years? Is that what happened? Doesn't he work in the music industry?

Simon notes that he doesn't think the boys are doing the record that he thinks they would make, and the boys seem happy to hear it. Is Paula putting song choices on them that they aren't happy with? If they're being forced to sing Christina Aguilera, that's entirely possible.

Josh is up next, and he'll be doing The Beatles, except he's doing the Joe Cocker version of The Beatles. Which kinda seems like cheating since the song is supposed to be from "Across the Universe." Did they do this version in the movie? I tried to forget about that thing after I watched it.

Still, this is obviously the right version for Josh to sing, what with the freedom it provides to ad-lib and growl your way through the chorus. Josh rocks it.

The judges all love it, but Simon says Josh looked like "Dracula and the brides" up there. The lazily dancing girls were a bit weird.

Time for Chris Rene to perform, and he's taking "Gangsta's Paradise" from "Dangerous Minds." Like Astro, Chris writes his own lyrics to the rap, and he also changes the chorus back to the original Stevie Wonder "Pastime Paradise." It's all a valiant effort, but to put Chris on stage rapping after Astro is just cruel.

Still, the judges all loved it, even Simon. Chris is rolling on charisma at this point I think, but as long as it keeps working, that's fine.

Speaking of rolling on charisma, Rachel Crow is the next one up. She'll be performing from "Cadillac Records," which is interesting... will she be singing "At Last?" Nope, she's doing "I'd Rather Go Blind." Probably a good choice. "At Last" might be a little too mature for the 13-year-old phenom, no matter how good she is.

She belts her way through the song, and it's great to see her doing a song with substance. That "Walking on Sunshine" shlock last week was not deserving of her vocal ability. It's revealed that Rachel picked her song this week, which explains it.

Steve says he wants to eat her up. It's awkward. Way to end with a bang, dude.

Time to vote, y'all! It seems pretty safe to assume that the Stereo Hogzz are going to be in the bottom two again tomorrow, barring some kind of voting surge. But who will join them? Will it be another face-off of two groups?