A week ago, a friend and fellow Sex and the City fan said to me, “Why are they calling the sequel “Rise of the Manolos?”  My initial reaction, of course, was “uhwha?”  After ferociously snatching up my laptop and a critical Google search, we discovered that this is not an official subtitle for the film (although, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it were).  Thankfully, she was mistaken, but it appears that the false title might have been appropriate to the film, which critics have already had the pleasure of naming “laughable” in more ways than one.

Of course, there’s nothing stopping me from dressing up with my girlfriends to see the film tomorrow night.  If you’d rather, you could watch Jake Gyllenhaal in a film with a better subtitle, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

Let’s hear from the Known Critics, after the cut:

This past week, the latest rendition of the prince of thieves Robin Hood (starring Russell Crowe and Directed by Ridley Scott) opened the Cannes Film Festival.  The reviews began pouring in less than an hour after the first screening had finished, answering the question that anyone who’s familiar with the Kevin Costner version released in 1991 might ask—too soon for another Robin Hood?

If green tights and archery doesn’t pique your interest, you could try Queen Latifah’s latest comedy Just Wright or Amanda Seyfried’s second attempt at achieving The Notebook-like success in the romance genre, Letters to Juliet.

Either way, here’s what the critics have to say about this weekend, after the cut:

With Iron Man 2 making its way out of the gate today, the summer blockbuster season has officially commenced.   If you don’t already have your tickets for this evening, I wouldn’t plan on going if I were you.
Tony Stark and his alter-ego Iron Man will take on some sort of chain wielding neanderthal/punk rock villain played by Mickey Rourke on the big screen.  But unlike this exciting match-up, the competition at the box office will be considerably cooler.

Likely the most popular alternative, Babies, an 80-minute documentary on the first year of human life, will open on over 500 screens across the US.

I apologize to anyone reading this website who might enjoy the comedy genre (it’s not ALL bad…), but like I’ve said, I won’t see comedies unless they have been recommended to me.  With that in mind, it looks like I won’t be making it into the theater this weekend.

If comedy is your thing, perhaps you might be interested in seeing either The Losers or The Back-up Plan, as both are opening wide in theaters this weekend.
This week’s Known Critics:
William Goss, Cinematical
Claudia Puig, USA Today
Steven Rea, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune
Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe

I don’t know about you, but I won’t be seeing anything in the theater for a few weeks.  But in case you decide to brave the first quarter of the film calendar year, here’s what’s coming out this weekend—and what a few Known critics have to say about it.
This week’s Known Critics:
Owen Gleiberman, EW
Dana Stevens, Slate
Joe Leydon, Variety
Justin Chang, Variety
Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.com
Lisa Schwarzbaum, EW
Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice