Overrated/Underrated

UNDERRATED

Karen O: Always capable of fireworks while fronting the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, this singer’s stormy turn with Trent Reznor on a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” in the trailer for David Fincher’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” just might overshadow the film. As Reznor’s howling guitars and grimy electronics close in around her, Karen O brings an icy intensity to Robert Plant’s original banshee wail. You don’t need any images to get chills from this.

Kevin Corrigan: If you ever need a guy in your film or TV series who knows something but makes you feel deeply unsettled while sharing it, this character actor is your man. Seen in darkly matter-of-fact turns in “Unstoppable” and “Pineapple Express” as well as a deadpan cog in a conspiracy on “Fringe” and “Community,” Corrigan is carving out a nice niche where a dark ambiguity can be menacing yet strangely funny as well.

OVERRATED

Whitney Cummings: A busy new face for fall with NBC’s “Whitney” (she also created CBS’ “2 Broke Girls,” which also debuts this week), Cummings may be a decent comic, but her sitcom presence seems to aim far lower. Is it a good sign when a show’s promos focus on a steady diet of tired, battle-of-the-sexes one-liners and three skimpy fetish outfits? It’s all played for laughs, but here’s hoping she has something more original to offer than that.

Björk: This unmistakable, fiercely unique artist has been a critical favorite from the moment she arrived with the Sugarcubes. And although she’s capable of transcendent moments (the “Dancer in the Dark” soundtrack, 1995’s hyper-eclectic “Post”), her more experimental recent output can be described as uneven at best. Her created-on-iPad new album, “Biophilia,” is due this month, and smart money is on it being odd, imaginative and an acquired taste.

— Chris Barton