Underrated/Overrated

UNDERRATED

David Chang: Up to now the arc of a celebrity chef peaked at cookbooks and circling the kitchens of the world on basic cable, but the man behind the delicious Momofuku empire in New York is breaking the mold. This month “Lucky Peach” launches, a quarterly food writing journal in partnership with McSweeney’s that features recipes, off-kilter essays and fetishistically sharp design consistent with the publisher’s track record. Tasty.

‘Let Me In’ (2010): Based on box office numbers, horror fans were skeptical about this reworking of the subtly haunting Swedish import “Let the Right One In.” Yet apart from a few moves that ramped up the gore, the American translation retained the original’s unsettling core, thanks in part to Chloe Moretz’s chilling child vampire and director Matt Reeves’ understatedly assured hand. If you want artful scares but subtitles leave you cold, this is an adaptation with teeth.

OVERRATED

‘Midnight in Paris’: At this stage, maybe you’re simply onboard with Woody Allen’s every cinematic turn or you’re left behind. As fun as this film’s knowing jabs toward legendary writers and artists often were (you’ll understand when you see it), its core seemed too slight to leave any emotional impact. Nearly everyone was an overblown caricature except Owen Wilson, and even he mostly just looked happy to be there. It’s a shame the feeling wasn’t mutual.

The Foo Fighters: There’s nothing wrong with a good, catchy tune, and rock ‘n’ roll nice guy Dave Grohl has written great ones. But after roughly 10 years of rewriting those songs again and again for rock radio, it’s just time for this band to hang ‘em up. Besides, every moment Grohl spends fronting this group is time he’s not spending in a more interesting project beating a set of drums to death, and at this point that’s almost a criminal act.