The cross-promotional gimmickry of “American Idol” took another step toward the abyss this week as film super-producer Quentin Tarantino advised the final seven on how to best sing songs from movies. Why? Because of Tarantino’s string of hit records, of course! Actually, he did a pretty nice job, and he was enthusiastic, in that Tarantino way. But for the, like, millionth week in a row, the contestants chose mostly lousy songs. I mean, really, you can pick any song from any film ever, and we end up with two Bryan Adams tunes? Gag. Anyway, America voted off Matt Giraud, but the judges rightly used their one-time-only “save” and kept him around for a bit longer. That means two people are going home next week. Drama!

The best of who’s left

1. Adam Lambert • After weeks of inching toward the top, Lambert’s “Born To Be Wild” puts him there. He’s simply the most interesting person left, and on this show, interesting is good. It was a little too Broadway musical at the end, even for him. Still, he’s the frontrunner now, no doubt.

2. Allison Iraheta • The Aerosmith song from that “Armageddon” flick? Blech. She sounded breathy early and finished strong. But she just doesn’t have Lambert’s momentum.

3. Matt Giraud • This dude is up and down, up and down. On Tuesday, he wrecked a pretty song, Bryan Adams’ “Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?” It was OK at the beginning, but sloppy at the end. He’s going to have to step it up next week to avoid being voted off twice.

4. Kris Allen • He wasn’t amazing. He was just good. But he picked an absolutely stunning tune (“Falling Slowly” from “Once”). He could’ve burped this song and cursed my mother in the chorus and I’d have loved it.

5. Anoop Desai • Anoop Dogg smartly followed my advice and sang a ballad (the other Bryan Adams song) that showed off his huge voice. I hope he makes it through next week, but I’m wary.

6. Danny Gokey • I am officially over this guy. Completely, totally insipid.

7. Lil Rounds (pictured) • Simon Cowell seems to be using poor Lil as his personal punching bag. Every week he slams her, no matter what she does. I thought she did an interesting thing, gospel-ing up “The Rose.” Simon hated it.

Best performance

Whew. Tough week. I’ll take Anoop Dogg, I guess, but only because the rest were so underwhelming. (Allen gets bonus points for song choice.)

Worst performance

Gokey. The guy is David Archuleta Lite.

Booking a plane ticket

This is getting tough. Anoop Dogg, Lil Rounds, Giraud, Kris Allen … any could go. I’ll predict that Giraud’s fans rush the phones, and Anoop and Lil head home.

Fashion faux pas

The contestants looked fine. It was Randy who committed the faux pas this week with his Amazing Technicolor DreamSweater. He looked like Charlie Brown trapped in “Tron.”

Judicious wisdom

“Idol” ran way over time last week, so this week, only two judges got to speak per contestant. That means half as much blathering, I guess. (Not really.) The highlight was Paula Abdul telling Iraheta that she possesses the same “special sauce” as Lambert. Hey Paula: Can we get fries with that?

— Ben Salmon