‘America’s Got Talent’ review: Catapult Entertainment; D’Angelo & Amanda vs. Ruby & Jonas

For the final one of its live shows featuring the top 60 acts, “America’s Got Talent” showed off a variety of performers. There were singers, dancers, and some people doing very ridiculous things, but in the end, what may stand out the most was the battle of the ballroom kids (with a clear winner in our mind), a guy with a giant sort of bungee, and the judges fighting some more. There were no earth-shattering acts, but we had a night of pretty great entertainment. Sometimes, we can’t really ask for more than that.

VSU Gospel Choir – This gospel group came out and really surprised us! Yes, “Like a Prayer” is a song that we already associate with a choir in the first place, but what this group still managed to do was pretty fantastic for this point in the season. They took all of our preconceived notions of them, turned it around, and then came up with something that made us like a choir again.

Melody Caballero – She was a replacement at the last minute for Red Panda, and she really had no chance at doing well. With only a week to rehearse, all she could really do was come out and perform the same set that she did last time. It’s great for what it is, but not new.

David Fenley – Okay, David. First, we rank you #1 in our pre-show article, and then you come out and sing “Trouble”? Every man alive with your voice has performed this song on TV. It’s way too unoriginal at this point, and it almost doesn’t even matter that you’re a good singer when you bring nothing new to the table.

2Unique – Aww, how sweet? Right? Well, the problem here is that this performance was straight out of the early nineties. Mistakes aside, it’s just not that appealing to watch a rapper / DJ date themselves when they could be acting like an age-appropriate Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

Sam Johnson – Wait, this guy climbed a billion feet up in the air, and then used a giant pole as a bungee jump, and this was somehow not dangerous enough? What are these people thinking? We appreciated Sam throwing it back on the judges here for being silly and not knowing what they want.

Duo Resonance – Lots of beautiful stuff in here. Some great movement, and what we like here is that it is a strength act, but it also feels like contemporary dance with the way in which they move. If they can beat out some of the vocal acts and make it through to the next round, it is easy to be more than happy for the two of them.

D’Angelo and Amanda – These two are the best ballroom kids ever on the show. We’ve railed on them getting on along with their siblings (mostly because they’ve all been around the show before), but this paso doble was incredible. D’Angelo’s little sister is going to have a hard time coming close to this.

Selena Mykenzie Gordon – Sorry, Selena, but this was a mess. She was off-key, the song choice of Rascal Flatts was awful, and it was a total cringe to watch. We were inches away from that mute button, almost playing chicken with ourselves as to whether or not we could go through pressing it or not.

John Wing – A very, very polished comedian. He’s not someone that we necessarily see getting a ton of votes just because he’s so dry and different, but we like him a lot. He almost reminds us of a rougher, angrier version of Bill Cosby when it comes to his family-oriented material, and how he manages to stay current.

Sprice – Okay, so that guy really is just a geeky guy who loves to make contraptions. It is cool what he does! The truth of it is though is that we have seen bigger and better contraptions than this. That is our problem here more so than his lack of enthusiasm on stage. He’s not going anywhere, but for a filler act, we have to say that this was actually rather enjoyable.

Ruby & Jonas – Admittedly, there is something about Ruby that we find to be a little too self-indulgent. We’d rather that this dance was more about the dance, and not about all of the filler and face-pulling. We almost feel bad for Jonas! No doubt that she is talented, but we personally prefer the earlier group.

Catapult Entertainment – The mention of Sandy Hook in the introductory package is something that will generate some debate, and while we don’t think it was necessary to the story of their dance, it was clearly part of the inspiration and we understand the mention. As for the performance itself, simply beautiful. Even though this is not the first or even the second shadow-dance act that we have seen, it does not make it any less exciting or entertaining to watch.

As always, we want to hear what you think along with our impressions below! We’ll also be back tomorrow with our review of the results.

Photo: NBC