It’s the weekend that Iron Man 2 opens. What else do you need to know? Whether or not you’re keen on seeing it, it’s the big news this week—and besides the only other thing opening is Babies. So you might as well settle back and enjoy it as best you can.

They called them “women’s pictures” at the studios, but to the world at large they were soaps or soap operas—a term derived from the fact that radio dramas of this kind were almost invariably sponsored by soap manufacturers on the theory that women were the market for soap products. They were also called “tearjerkers,” “weepies,” and “three-handkerchief pictures.”

The best thing in theaters this week is almost certainly The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which starts Friday at the Fine Arts, followed by North Face, which opens Friday at the Carolina. The big news on the mainstream front, however, is the return of Freddy Kruger to the screen with the remake—excuse me, reboot—of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

I’ve been meaning to tackle this topic for some time, but it always seemed to be a little daunting. It still does, but I think if I keep it to the basics (more or less) it might be workable. Considering the plethora of comic book movies that keep festooning our theaters, I certainly feel that some understanding of how this all started is of some interest.

Unless you have a penchant for nature documentaries, this would be a pretty uninteresting week from the looks of things—that is, if it weren’t for a couple of smaller releases, Greenberg and Mother, coming to the Fine Arts and the Carolina respectively. The mainstream offerings are a high-concept romcom with Jennifer Lopez and a low-profile actioner—neither of which appear to be poised to set the moviegoing public ablaze with anticipation.