Apparently, it's never supposed to stop snowing (at least in the immediate area of MTV News headquarters in New York), which means that getting to your local movie theater could be something of a challenge this weekend. But you should really go out of your way to try to take in some cinema over the next few days, as not only do you have a fresh batch of Oscar nominees to catch up with (including "127 Hours," which goes wide this weekend after several months in limited release) but also a fresh batch of new titles. As far as the Oscar stuff goes, now is your opportunity to catch Javier Bardem's performance in "Biutiful," which earned him a nomination for Best Actor. (The film was also nominated in the Best Foreign Language category.) Away from the Oscar race, there's Anthony Hopkins battling the devil in "The Rite," the "Sense and Sensibility"-goes-Latina comedy "From Prada to Nada" and the new Gregg Araki sci-fi sex comedy pastiche "Kaboom."
But if you're looking for big action, "The Mechanic" is your best option. Jason Statham (who has carved out a niche for himself as one of the best action stars of this generation) stars as a hitman who takes Ben Foster under his wing. It promises some great chases, a bunch of huge explosions and more than a few snide bon mots.
In order to prepare yourself for "The Mechanic," check out the soundtrack playlist below, which features a six pack of tracks that should put you in a sharpshooting kind of mood. It includes smashes from Killer Mike ("Ready Set Go"), We Are Scientists ("It's a Hit") and Dizzee Rascal ("Fix Up Look Sharp"). But we begin, as we always should, with 30 Seconds to Mars' "The Kill."