The Playlist

"The Mechanic" is the prototypical early year action movie -- nothing more and nothing less. Star Jason Statham, who again plays an infallible, lethal bad-ass, seems to have carved his niche as the current go-to guy for B-movie action flicks. The beefy Brit once seemed like a promising heir to the ‘80s blockbuster action hero throne left vacant by Sly and Ah-nold, but with a few exceptions ("The Bank Job," "The Italian Job"), his filmography over the past decade compares more realistically to the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal.

The Answer Is Probably Not, But Hey, What The Hell...Our exhausting coverage of the films coming out in 2011 continues and yes, we're tired, hungry and a bit cranky. We used to call this our Least Anticipated Films feature, but this year our New Year's resolution was to be a tiny bit more positive. Frankly, the sentiment applies, but this is also the leftover films of 2011 we just don't know what to do with. Many of them look abysmal, some of us glass-half-full Playlist types (yes, there are a few among us) think, "hey, that picture might not be so bad," while other members of the group stare in shock that such an idea could be possibly floated. So yes, basically these are the films that we don't hold out too much hope, the ones we think look downright cheap and dreadful, made only to turn a buck and the occasional few that look half-decent (and may just not have fit in the character count of our Escapist Features, sue us) --- though before you bombard our comments section, please actually read what we have to say about these films before assuming we're completely writing them off. Also, while it wasn't intentional, some of us do find it amusing that most of the cast of "Twilight" fill these halls. Another trend we just realized? Leighton Meester pretty much means box-office poison (poor cute, "Gossip Girl"). Also, Hollywood seems to be banking on the mostly unknown Alex Pettyfer, but he truly looks like a charisma-free zone of blandness. Onwards to 2011, though, not necessarily upwards in this case....