Unwinnable

On April 4, 2013, film critic Roger Ebert passed away after a long battle with cancer. His career as a critic spanned over forty years and three mediums – in print in the Chicago Sun-Times, on television with Siskel and Ebert at the Movies and on the internet with both his blog and his endlessly entertaining Twitter account. He edified a massive audience in his time and inspired countless writers to try their hand at criticism. In fact, there is no critic in the world today who had as far a reach and as much esteem as Roger Ebert. His loss is a terrible one. (more…)

It seems like every year the ticket prices and movie budgets go up a little more, but do the movies get better? Unwinnable’s picks for the ten best movies of 2012 were as diverse as we are, from documentaries to Bollywood musicals, indie dramas to franchise sequels. But when all was said and voted, these ten came out as the clear winners, with Marvel’s The Avengers as the far and away winner. Do you agree? Disagree? What does your top ten list look like? (more…)

2012 was a great year for comics. Keeping this list to ten was impossible due to ties, so we went for twelve. However, even at twelve, this list feels too small to encompass all the great comics that were published this year. Nevertheless, there was one comic that pretty much every comic reading member of Team Unwinnable agreed on: Hawkeye. (more…)

If you are the kind of person who looks at year end lists to turn up your nose, feel anger that your pet fave didn’t chart or debate ranking order then go ahead and excuse yourself now. We say, “Good day to you, sir or madame.” We at Unwinnable are of the mind that such exercises aren’t meant to put a universe of personal expression in order, but to shine a light, share a vibe and spread the word. Our staff didn’t disappoint this year. With 145 records nominated, some of this year’s charters made the cut with only two votes. I’m proud to be among a crowd with such diverse, iconoclastic musical tastes. Our list willfully ignores prejudice in favor of passion. Join us, won’t you? (more…)

Every year, we struggle to compile the lists of the things we loved over the course of the year. There are so many of them, the movies, the games, the stories. We debate and vote and hem and haw for the entire month of December, trying to distill them perfectly.

The same can not be said of the things we hate. The worst of 2012 – that’s easy to see… (more…)

Ah, the holidays: good times, good friends, too much food and far more booze than one person can drink by themselves. It is no secret that Unwinnable loves a good party – and nothing beats a holiday party. So our gift to you, dear friends and dear readers, is a rocking 100 minutes of Christmas songs. It’s an instant party, full of good cheer and best wishes from the Unwinnable family to you and yours. (more…)

Editor’s note: due to damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, the greater New Jersey area is celebrating Halloween this year on November 5, hence the post-Oct. 31 publication of this holiday-themed piece.

When I think of Fall and Halloween, I think of horror films. I can’t help it. There’s nothing better than a good scare, and why not devote an entire month to celebrate that? And when horror films come up in conversation between genre fanatics, one thing that’s always hotly contested is whether or not we should see the monster that’s on the protagonist’s tail. There are plenty of slasher examples – Leatherface, Jason, and Michael Myers, to name a few – but are we afraid of the boogeyman, or we afraid of what they might look like under the mask?
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