I don’t watch American Idol, not even when it features Quentin Tarantino or the singing of “movie songs.” And from what I can tell, I didn’t miss much last night when the show brought the filmmaker back on as a mentor while the finalists sang a terrible selection of soundtrack hits. Apparently Tarantino was wasted on the broadcast, and I don’t mean intoxicated; I mean he was pretty much useless to the way the show works. But here’s one thing: the AI episode got people on the film blogs talking, and that might give the show attention it doesn’t normally receive — not that it really needs any additional viewers or coverage, of course.

Oh well, here’s another thing: in connection with the show (though really not seen until today), we got a new clip from Inglourious Basterds featuring Mike Myers, which seems to be a joke — or a deterrent for some of us if it’s not a joke.

After the jump, the internerds weigh in on their opinion of the episode, the filmmaker and the clip:

• “Was this really the best they could do with a category like movie songs?” asks Elisabeth Rappe at Cinematical. She would prefer it related more to the guest mentor:
  

  it seems like if you’re going to have Tarantino “coaching” your singers, they ought to be singing stuff he’s picked, or stuff from his movies. How about performances of Stuck In the Middle, Hooked on a Feeling, and Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down.

• Under a headline calling Tarantino the “worst American Idol celebrity mentor ever,” Lane Brown at Vulture still has some good things to say about the episode:
  

  For anyone who’s ever wondered why the acting is so weird in all of his movies, we may have finally found the answer. This is all to say that last night’s show was terrifically entertaining, and we hope they invite him back next year. Also, possibly to promote Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino appeared to be wearing a Hitler haircut.

• Commenting at Vulture, “ACLARE” suggests some alternative movie song selections that should have been sung:
  

  Matt needs to stick with what he’s good at. He should sing songs written in his style, not vomit his (awesome) style on songs of different genres. He should have sung some soul song from Jackie Brown. Lil is clearly not that bright and is interpreting too literally what they say. She should have sung Diamonds are Forever.

• Maura Johnston at Idolator also likes Tarantino as a mentor, especially the way he coaches as if he’s directing actors, but…
  

  But the night overall was something of a dud, thanks in large part to the unfortunate song choices—seriously, two Bryan Adams tracks?—that made me think that my idea to restrict the night’s repertoire to songs that had appeared on Tarantino soundtracks should have been employed. Although I guess doing so would have resulted in Kara calling every song “obscure,” since she gave that tag to the song that won the freaking Best Song Oscar two years ago.

• Also at Idolator, Dan Gibson selects six more Bryan Adams tunes from soundtracks that might have been appropriate for last night’s episode.
  

  With only seven contestants left at this stage, everyone could have had their own Bryan Adams song from a film. Wouldn’t you have enjoyed hearing Adam Lambert’s take on “One Night Love Affair”?

  Will the group sing tonight be “All For Love”?

• Peter Travers of Rolling Stone has another idea for tonight’s show after criticizing the last episode:
  

  Where was QT when the Idol contestants decided that the night’s theme was all things sappy? Tarantino should have gone medieval on Danny Gokey’s ass when he chose “Endless Love” from the endlessly boring movie of the same name. The group number on tonight’s results show should be “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from Hustle and Flow

• “Let’s be honest… the whole show kind of sucked,” writes Michelle Collins at Best Week Ever. Also, a clever Pulp Fiction tie-in to intro her recap:
  

  in the great words of Ezekiel 25:17/Jules Winnfield: “Blessed is he (Quentin) who in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak (AI contestants) through the valley of darkness (criticism), for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children (tweens). And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers (Classic, beloved songs). And you will know that my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee (Angry ranting blog post, see below).

• Commenting on Best Week Ever, “Buffy Freak” adds to the criticism of the song choices:
  

  There have been movies for going on 100 years. And there have been songs in movies for a little less than that. There are seven contestants remaining. And TWO of them sing Bryan Adams? Really???

• Alex Billington at First Showing wonders why Tarantino would bother to promote his new movie on Idol:
  

  apparently Quentin Tarantino did actually appear on “American Idol” last night, and he apparently did show this bit of footage from Inglourious Basterds, which is all a bit odd because what fans of “American Idol” would event want to see this? Oh, right, probably all of them, because they’re all in love with Brad Pitt.

• After seeing the new footage with Myers, The Playlist is dubious of the filmmaker’s latest:
  

  is this more Tarantino B-movie adoration or his next masterpiece? From the footage here, it’s too close to call. Brad Pitt still seems like he’s over-doing it and there’s still many shades of over-the-top camp all around. Judge for yourself though.

• Erik Davis at Cinematical is also unsure of the film after reviewing the new footage:
  

  Still can’t get a good read on this flick…but I have a feeling there’s so much gore, violence and nasty language that it’s probably near impossible to cut together a true trailer for this puppy. Hopefully in the next couple months we get a few R-rated scenes to check out so we can see just how filthy Tarantino intends to make it.

• Ross Miller at Screen Rant is much more excited by the footage. You can tell by his italics:
  

  Was that really Mike Myers in there just before half way into the video?! It was odd hearing he was even going to be in the film, but actually seeing him in there, in the WWII garb, is even stranger.

  This footage reveals a little bit more of the mentality Tarantino has running through the film. Pitt’s Lt. Aldo Raine mentions at one point that, “We ain’t in the prisoner taking business, we in the killing Nazi business… and business is a boomin’.” So it appears that Tarantino is going to showcase less of the Basterds being cautious and causing as much damage as they can within the structure of the Nazi regime, but rather just showing as much violence and bloodshed towards the Nazis as is possible to fit into one movie.

  I like it!…

• Mark at I Watch Stuff agrees that the Mike Myers stuff is strange:
  

  Concern yourself with why Mike Myers latest prosthetics/accent combination has rendered him a British military version of character actor Jeffrey Jones:

• Lane Brown at Vulture again, this time also commenting on Mike Myers’ appearance in the clip:
  

  It’s nothing that will change your mind if you didn’t like the first trailer, but in it we learn that Tarantino has slyly paid homage in Basterds to yet another forgotten, critically unloved cult film — 1999’s Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me — by casting Mike Myers as a relative of his famous character Fat Bastard.