People you find overrated?

JoeTheDestroyer · March 06, 2015, 12:59:14 PM

You know who I think is overrated?

-Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked: It speaks volumes when the musical adapted from you novel is actually more palatable than your novel. People love him because of his constant word play and use of big words. I can't stand his work because he tends to prattle, lose focus, abandon subplots and main plots almost consistently, and often comes off as pretentious.

-John Cena: Although he's improved over the years, I still feel like he can't sell to save his life. He seems to go the extra mile to make wrestling look staged.

-Ray William Johnson: I won't say that I find this guy completely unfunny. I've chuckled at some of his jokes, after all. Honestly, though, I just don't find him very funny. Also, it was incredibly annoying when "fake and gay" became a thing, and everyone on YouTube mindlessly called every video "fake and gay." I think that was worse than "Did he died?" (sic)

-Dane Cook: Occasionally funny, mostly loud and obnoxious, often annoying. His bit on cheating was good, though.

-David Cage: A man who makes "sophisticated" video games that appeal to practically no one, and then complains when his material is financially unsuccessful. He also said that modern gamers suffer from "Peter Pan syndrome," a slight that I took personally and have since vowed never to purchase a game in which he was involved. So yeah, Heavy Rain and that other game with Ellen Page can both kiss my ass.

-Lindy West: Again, unfunny.

-Rosie O'Donnell: Was called one of the funniest women alive. I find her, big surprise, to be unfunny. I also lost the infinitesimally tiny shred of respect I had for her when she sued a Portland, Oregon radio station called Rosie, claiming they stole her name. Yeah, it couldn't possibly be that Portland is the Rose City and they were playing off that. They totally stole your name. Idiot.

-M. Night Shyamalan: I'm only listing him because Hollywood continues to fund his projects. I'm not sure why. After Earth was torturous, and thank goodness I still haven't seen The Last Airbender, if what I've heard about it is true.

-Michael Bay: Same as Shyamalan. He doesn't seem to have many vocal supporters, but Hollywood keeps funding him. In this case, I can understand why, and it's mostly because people keep paying to see his movies. Regardless of their critical failings, the Transformers films have banked boatloads of cash. With the exception of the first Transformers movie, I just find his work to be loud and banal. That's quite a feat.

-Food Babe: I'm probably going to catch a lot of hell for this one, but I'm not a fan of bad science or fear mongering, and she seems to promulgate both.

Olivia Bauer · March 06, 2015, 01:05:03 PM

Quote from: JoeTheDestroyer on March 06, 2015, 12:59:14 PM
-John Cena: Although he's improved over the years, I still feel like he can't sell to save his life. He seems to go the extra mile to make wrestling look staged.
-Ray William Johnson: I won't say that I find this guy completely unfunny. I've chuckled at some of his jokes, after all. Honestly, though, I just don't find him very funny. Also, it was incredibly annoying when "fake and gay" became a thing, and everyone on YouTube mindlessly called every video "fake and gay." I think that was worse than "Did he died?" (sic)
-Dane Cook: Occasionally funny, mostly loud and obnoxious, often annoying. His bit on cheating was good, though.
-Rosie O'Donnell: Was called one of the funniest women alive. I find her, big surprise, to be unfunny. I also lost the infinitesimally tiny shred of respect I had for her when she sued a Portland, Oregon radio station called Rosie, claiming they stole her name. Yeah, it couldn't possibly be that Portland is the Rose City and they were playing off that. They totally stole your name. Idiot.
-M. Night Shyamalan: I'm only listing him because Hollywood continues to fund his projects. I'm not sure why. After Earth was torturous, and thank goodness I still haven't seen The Last Airbender, if what I've heard about it is true.
-Michael Bay: Same as Shyamalan. He doesn't seem to have many vocal supporters, but Hollywood keeps funding him. In this case, I can understand why, and it's mostly because people keep paying to see his movies. Regardless of their critical failings, the Transformers films have banked boatloads of cash.

I agree with all of these. The other people I'm not familiar with.

Rev. Powell · March 06, 2015, 01:29:23 PM

Quote from: JoeTheDestroyer on March 06, 2015, 12:59:14 PM

-Food Babe: I'm probably going to catch a lot of hell for this one, but I'm not a fan of bad science or fear mongering, and she seems to promulgate both.

I hope you don't catch hell for that. I completely agree.

The one I don't get is "the Nostalgia Critic." Not funny or insightful, and his delivery isn't even close to professional. I just don't get it. I think one of the "minor" personalities on his site (Kyle Kallgren of "Brows Held High") is a lot better, although his writing is much better than his performance.

bob · March 06, 2015, 02:05:35 PM

Carlos Mencia, Jeff Dunham, Larry The Cable Guy, Jeff Foxworthy, Tyler Perry, Peter Jackson

JoeTheDestroyer · March 06, 2015, 02:46:14 PM

Quote from: bob on March 06, 2015, 02:05:35 PM
Carlos Mencia, Jeff Dunham, Larry The Cable Guy, Jeff Foxworthy, Tyler Perry, Peter Jackson

Definitely on all, although I do like some of Jackson's work. I can understand some people being put off by overlong films that seem to drag on and on and on and on....

lester1/2jr · March 06, 2015, 06:16:59 PM

I remember Katie Notopoulus from Buzzfeed a few years ago saying John Cenas whole thing is he's a guy from Massachusetts who likes to work out. Something along those lines I don't watch wrestling.

Charles Krauthammers whole schtick is that he's really smart but I haven't seen the proof. He just seems like a typical neoconservative who always relates everything back to bombing Iran. He wrote a thing about raising gas taxes a few weeks ago that was debunked by an actual economist pretty quickly.

Also No Doubt, Katy Perry and blink 182 have never had a song even as good as "Friday" as far as I can tell. I kind of like Hollaback girl but that was solo

indianasmith · March 06, 2015, 06:20:23 PM

That author Lewis Smith is TOTALLY overrated. Fourteen five star reviews on Amazon?
Must be from his relatives!

JaseSF · March 06, 2015, 06:21:15 PM

Agree with most listed. I would add...

Will Ferrell (I find him cringe worthy as an actor/comedian more oft than not), Rob Zombie (both as a performer and a director, he's overrated), Adam Sandler (yeah I know a lot of people don't rate him highly and I for the most part agree - will admit some of the films he did with Barrymore are decent), Triple H (no one is as bad as Cena in-ring though at the level he's at - his nickname should be "The Botchmaster"), Vince McMahon (stole most of the good ideas for which he takes credit), Justin Bieber (do I really need to explain this one?) and really most modern day singers/rappers/pop & country stars

WingedSerpent · March 06, 2015, 08:08:43 PM

The AVGN. Half of my dislike for him comes from when his fans would attack anyone as a rip off if they even mentioned video games in their videos. When I watched a few of his videos, I found them unfunny.

Bill Nye the Science Guy. I do like the fact he debate Ken Ham and that he's out there promoting science. I just don't think he's got the right charisma for a lot of his appearances.

ER · March 07, 2015, 11:47:30 PM

I don't know if it qualifies as being overrated, because he was definitely a forceful presence onscreen, but every time I've seen Marlon Brando in a movie, I've felt like I was watching him act, as opposed to being carried along in the internal world of the story itself, as I usually am by most performers, especially those good at becoming invisible within their roles. (Gary Oldman's a master at that.) A few years ago TCM ran a clip of Burt Reynolds doing a tribute to Spencer Tracy, and Reynolds said when he was a young actor, Tracy offered him the advice: "Never let them catch you acting." Instantly I thought, yeah, that's it exactly, I have always caught Brando acting. He didn't become his characters, he stayed Brando being Brando.

etmoviesb · March 08, 2015, 06:03:57 AM

I am not familiar with american television, but being aware that in the US laws always protect profit more than health. I find difficult to imagine this Food Babe as bad as you state. Is it?

Olivia Bauer · March 08, 2015, 08:38:12 AM

I think the most overrated thing is the word overrated.
I don't know, it kinda bugs me. I usually s**t on something based on its own merits. I don't like complaining about how something is popular.

Rev. Powell · March 08, 2015, 08:40:28 AM

Quote from: etmoviesb on March 08, 2015, 06:03:57 AM
I am not familiar with american television, but being aware that in the US laws always protect profit more than health. I find difficult to imagine this Food Babe as bad as you state. Is it?

She's not on TV. She certainly relies on the "US laws always protect profit more than health" belief to build her audience, though.

http://foodbabe.com/

Here's an article discussing some of her basic scientific errors: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/12/04/364745790/food-babe-or-fear-babe-as-activist-s-profile-grows-so-do-her-critics

A character who is even worse is Dr. Oz: http://www.doctoroz.com/

And the truth about Dr.Oz: http://www.newsweek.com/researchers-cant-find-proof-two-thirds-medical-advice-dr-oz-293551

Charlatans can profit from health paranoia, so if it's true as you say that American laws protect profits over the general welfare, snake oil salesmen will benefit too, n'est-ce pas?

lester1/2jr · March 08, 2015, 09:37:53 AM

ER- method acting in general is distracting

zombie no.one · March 09, 2015, 03:57:49 PM

Eminem. can't stand this guy's annoying voice, horribly forced flow and dumb sense of humour. the fact he's frequently described as the greatest rapper ever is laughable.

Richard Dawkins / Christopher Hitchens. both very intelligent and articulate guys, but to me they come off as snobbish attention seekers whose main motivation seems to be telling other people they're wrong, as opposed to providing their own viewpoints. (Im aware Hitchens passed away)

Ed Norton. just don't find him a convincing actor, sorry.

Jessica Alba. bland, annoying, and really not all that hot. imo

Chris Rock. annoying voice, forced looking hyperactive stage routines, and not funny.

also, every England manager since Bobby Robson