Saturday, January 28, 2017

But I Digress... The Hunger Game

By Cat



This week I want to share with you one of my new favorite games. It’s been around a while, in its various incarnations; but it just hit my radar within the last few weeks. Don’t Starve Together (DST) has to be one of the most hilariously frustrating and enjoyable games I’ve played in a long while.

I even get warm fuzzy nostalgic feelings, because it reminds me of games I played at my dad’s many years ago (late 80s – early 90s) – the Space Quest and King’s Quest series by Sierra Entertainment. I didn’t play all of them but the few I did, I remember fondly. It was always fun to figure out all the hilariously horrible ways to die.

Fun with Frog Rain, Gameplay with Selina in her world. (The pile of skeletons was me.)
Don’t Starve is a lot like that – it’s a dark fantasy focused on character survival. Characters must pit themselves against the wilderness, which is brutal even in its easiest settings. The original game had an adventure element with plot content. The lore of the game world unfolded and various characters unlocked as you progressed towards facing the bad guy.


Since, the game’s creator, Klei Entertainment, has expanded the Don’t Starve experience with DLC. You can participate in Reign of Giants, where absolutely enormous and cantankerous monsters spawn into the world; or you can choose the Shipwrecked option where you travel from land to land on rafts as you face dangers both on land and at sea. 

The version Selina introduced me to is Don’t Starve Together. This version of the game provides a multiplayer option and uses the Reign of Giants framework.  Collaboration is the key in boosting your survival chances!

Promo art from Klei featuring Giant called Deerclops

Here’s the best part, though – the game is fully customizable. You can host a server for your friends or open it up to the public. You can even run solo. Absolutely everything can be tweaked in the world generation settings. You decide if you want the potential of giant monsters stomping your base or not, certain types of regular world critters and resources, and even which seasons you are willing to endure. There’s always the option of leaving everything to default settings and playing vanilla, too. 

There are fifteen core characters for the collective Don’t Starve. All but the characters unique to the Shipwrecked are available in DST, so you don’t have to add any of that type of modification if you enjoy one of those. Each character comes with perks and also weaknesses. My favorite is Webber, the spider-guy. Spiders love me, but everything else pretty much attacks or runs away. Bonus? I can eat almost anything. (Take that, Wigfrid the carnivore! No, seriously, that character can ONLY eat meat. I died SO many times.)


Steam’s Workshop is also a source of game mods that are absolutely free to use. Mod creators have crafted all sorts of goodies that can either make your Don’t Starve experience easier – or harder.

There are custom characters, such as Selina’s favorite, Felicia by Tovath & foxel. The red-headed character mod was modeled after Felicia Day (The Guild, Supernatural, Con Man). You can add, remove, or augment things from your world beyond what the standard world creation settings allow.

I’ve enjoyed playing the game both in its default vanilla state, and running mods. Some might think that a lot of the mods unbalance the game, but let me tell you – this game offers nonstop challenge regardless of how many benefits you give yourself (within reason). 

Keep in mind, however, that subscribing to the mods will increase your memory usage while running the game. You might check your system specs before you add any. This also impacts load time. You will wait longer on the outset for your world to generate and even to resume your game if you have a lot of mods running.


It’s also a good idea to read the comments for the mods you’re considering. Some mods can cause other aspects of your game to stop working or can cause your game to crash due to buggy code or coding conflicts. You can generally see if someone’s complaining about such things before you choose to subscribe. Remember – the more mods you add, the harder it is to figure out which ones might be causing issues.

Left: Seasonal Mod | Right: Event Year of the Gobbler Loading Screen

Some of my favorites are Spring Festival Pack by lunarDust & leonie, Ultimate Tool by nkiy, DST PickyPickyPicky [FIXED WITH CAVES] by Wyvernal & Afro1967, 45 Inventory Slots by M.Y, Increase Storage by Luis95R, Persistent Compass HUD by Pixxaddict, Extra Equip Slots by NubsPixel, Chester Recipe by MrSaturn, Minimap HUD by squeek, Pickle It by Xaben, Mineable Gems by star, Increased Stack Size by ChaosMind42, Birds and Berries and Trees and Flowers for Friends by Underwear Apprentice, More Actions by Isosurface, [DST] Storeroom by MrM, Personal Chesters by Dragon Wolf Leo, Invincible Chester by Golden Heart, and Item Info by Ryuu.

My little base-in-progress on my personal server

I’ve found that there’s a lot of trial and error in discovering what works best for the DST experience you’d most enjoy. I like to collect shiny cool things so these mods are great for me. For example, I added Personal Chester; but then was dismayed when every spider and other monster I came across would attack the durn thing. Invincible Chester was the only thing that kept me from tearing out my hair without giving up the cute little hopping pet chest/dog/pumpkin thing.  I tried to use a new ice backpack recently but found that when trying to craft a regular backpack, it caused me to disconnect. 

The most horrific and funny experience I’ve had with a mod recently would have to be the “More In Tumbleweed.” Tumbleweeds in the game are rolling grab bags of materials. You can get grass, twigs, random food drops, useless junk, tools, and even surprise monsters. This mod increases your chances of finding cool stuff in the roaming combustible weeds – the tradeoff is that there is equally an increased chance of monsters. This mod is not configurable to raise or lower any of the percentages, either. You could literally get ANY monster as you open these terrifying tufts – even if you have that monster disabled in your world/server settings. How do I know this? I suddenly had crazy things chasing me – like a giant cranky living evergreen tree, blow-gun wielding walrus people, killer bees, clockwork chess pieces, and giant bunnies of doom that instantly tag-teamed me into death (because they don’t like spiders). Needless to say, I don’t use that one anymore.

Left: Tentacle attacking koalefant by spider nest in swamp | Right: How to kill killer bees? WITH FIRE!
Gameplay with my friend, Leo.

Just for fun, here’s a video of YouTube star, Markiplier (SMOSH: The Movie, Scare PewDiePie, Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything), running afoul of a treeguard (the giant living evergreen tree monster).


This is an epic game for low cost ($15.00 on Steam), and I would highly recommend it. How long will you survive? 

If you would like more information on the game and/or how to play, you can find the fan-maintained wikia here. There are also many threads on Reddit that offer discussion and tips such as here.

Left to right: Selina's Felicia character, my Webber character

But I Digress... is a new weekly column for trustthedice.com that can't be pinned down to just one thing. It's Cat's celebration of tangents, random references, and general fan geekdom that both intertwines with, revolves around, and diverges from our movie-review core. In homage to the beloved Brit comedians, we want to bring you something completely different!

Friday, January 27, 2017

I Don’t Know Whether to Slit My Wrists or Leave Them Long (2013) - Foreign Film Friday


 

Number Rolled: 27
Movie Name/Year: I Don’t Know Whether to Slit My Wrists or Leave Them Long (2013)
Tagline: None
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Length: 102 minutes
Rating: NR
Production Companies: Itaca Films
Producer: Enrique Carrasco, Luis Ernesto Franco, Santiago Garcia Galvan, Alex Garcia, Joceline Hernandez, Bertha Kaim, Rafael Ley, Luis Gerardo Mendez, Ludwika Paleta, Andres Tagliavini, Zuria Vega, Araceli Velazquez, Eugenio Villamar
Director: Manolo Caro
Writer: Manolo Caro
Actors: Ludwika Paleta, Luis Ernesto Franco, Luis Gerardo Mendez, Raul Mendez, Zuria Vega, Rossy de Palma, Livia Brito, Claudia Schmidt
Stunt Doubles: None

Languages
Speech Available: Spanish
Subtitles Available: English, Portuguese, Spanish

Blurb from Netflix: Lust, secrets and other predicaments come crashing into the steady lives of quiet neighbors when a former soccer player moves into their complex.


Selina’s Point of View:
I didn’t particularly enjoy this film. I didn’t find the characters relatable. I didn’t like the script – I felt like roughly 20% of it was not shit that people would actually say, though that might have been a cultural thing.

It wasn’t all bad, though.

I Don’t Know Whether to Slit My Wrists or Leave Them Long was one of those movies that starts at the end and then explains how the characters got there. I really, REALLY liked how the creators resolved that storyline. I didn’t expect what happened. There was plenty of foreshadowing, but enough red herrings to throw me off.

I really couldn’t get into the film aside from that, though.

I don’t hate it, I just don’t care about it. Maybe it’s for a different demographic.


Cat’s Point of View:
The title of this movie has to be one of the strangest I’ve ever encountered. It makes me wonder a bit what other names got left on the proverbial cutting room floor. Were they weirder? Was one of them more fitting? We may never know.

I’m ok with that, really. Just saying.

Maybe the film makers wanted to keep us guessing a bit. I had no idea what to expect from this movie based on the title alone. A quick glance at the Netflix info told me it was supposed to be a comedy – a comedy with a reference to suicide in its name.

What do you know – I actually liked it, and quite a bit at that.

Sure there was a good bit of darkness mixed in with the laughter, but it was balanced well. This wasn’t too heavy handed as a drama and the levity didn’t push over the top. The characters felt like real people with real situations – messy situations. That’s life, though, right?


The subtitles were an occasional problem. The film used small white text over the actual movie rather than a bold contrasting color or utilizing the space below the ‘letterbox’ of the movie frame. It made it a bit difficult to read at times. Aside from that, I found it pretty easy to follow along.

I’d easily watch this one again and recommend it to anyone who doesn’t mind the occasional annoying subtitle issue.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 72%

Netflix’s Prediction for Selina – 3.5/5
Selina’s Trust-the-Dice Score2/5

Netflix’s Prediction for Cat – 2.5/5
Cat’s Trust-the-Dice Score3.5/5

The Random Rating: R

P.S. Short post-credits scene.

Movie Trailer: 

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Yoga Hosers (2016)



Number Rolled: 52
Movie Name/Year: Yoga Hosers (2016)
Tagline: Do your ‘wurst…
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Length: 87 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Production Companies: Abbolita Productions, Destro Films, Invincible Pictures, SModcast Pictures, StarStram Media, XYZ Films
Producer: Thomas Ashley, Joshua Bachove, Nate Bolotin, Charles Sauveur Bonan, Luke Daniels, Elizabeth Destro, Gary Ellis, Tara Finegan, Brendan Garst, David S. Greathouse, J. Andrew Greenblatt, Andrew Heaberlin, John Hinkson, Brandon K. Hogan, William D. Johnson, Jordan Kessler, Cole Klapman, Peter Krikes, Tracey Landon, Kim Leadford, Daniel McCarney, Daniel McGilvray, Steve Meerson, Jordan Monsanto, Tim Nye, Alan Pao, Peter Pietrangeli, Steven Pottash, J.C. Reifenberg, Bill Rogin, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Aram Tertzakian
Director: Kevin Smith
Writer: Kevin Smith
Actors: Lily-Rose Depp, Harley Quinn Smith, Adam Brody, Harley Morenstein, Ashley Greene, Jack Depp, Austin Butler, Tyler Posey, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Justin Long, Tony Hale, Natasha Lyonne, Genesis Rodriguez, Vanessa Paradis, Haley Joel Osment, Ralph Garman, Sasheer Zamata, Johnny Depp, Kevin Conroy, Kevin Smith, Stan Lee, Jason Mewes, Charles Sauveur Bonan, David S. Greathouse, Robert Kurtzman, Christopher Drake, Joel Shock
Stunt Doubles: Jessie Graff, Jesse La Flair, Natalie Strasser

Languages
Speech Available: English
Subtitles Available: English

Blurb from Netflix: With an all-important high school party at stake, two teen yoga fanatics enlist a man hunter to help fight an army of monsters created by Nazis.


Selina’s Point of View:
So terrible and I love it so much.

Let me be clear, ‘terrible’ (in this case) does not mean that it was shot badly or that the acting/directing/writing was bad. It means the film was filled to the brim with pop references, Kevin Smith (Comic Book Men, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Dogma) references and complete ridiculousness. I spent the entire time saying “what the fuck” in the best possible way.

I think as Kevin Smith gets older he gets weirder. I can’t wait to see what he puts out in his eighties. I’ll still be here devouring every film he puts out with a ginormous smile on my face.

I’ll be honest, though, even if Kevin Smith didn’t have anything to do with this film, I would have loved it. Whenever people in the industry get together to just have fun with a project, it tends to come out amazing. This film felt like a bunch of friends just fucking around – and that tends to work because it means no one phones it in.


Johnny Depp (Alice Through the Looking Glass, Into the Woods, Lucky Them) was absolutely unrecognizable. I went back and forth asking myself if that character was actually him the whole movie. That guy is a walking, talking cartoon.

Harley Quinn Smith (Tusk, Jersey Girl, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) and Lily-Rose Depp (Moose Jaws, Quotidien, Vivement dimanche prochain) were both hilarious in this film as well. I’m curious if the girls are interested in continuing on in the entertainment field or if they have dreams that will take them away from the family business. If they do intend to continue on as actors, I would love to see what they could do with some serious parts. Though, sticking to comedy would be a perfectly legitimate choice for them.

Aside from that, there was a marvelous cameo during the film that added credibility to all the comic book references…

In the end, I’d recommend this film in a heartbeat.

Bratzis. Nazis made out of bratwurst. On a scale of one to ten, I can’t. I’m still dying.


Cat’s Point of View:
I have been looking forward to watching this movie ever since it was announced. Imagine my excitement when we finally landed on it for this week!

This film is a sequel, and the middle feature in a trilogy that was launched with the movie Tusk (2014). You could watch this movie on its own, but you wouldn’t get everything out of it without that first flick under your belt. There’s a broad smattering of references both to the earlier movie and epic Easter-eggs.

Three characters from the first movie return to the screen in this sequel. The story doesn’t follow the main characters from that movie. Instead, it picks up a bit after-the-fact within the same world (Canada, eh?) and in tangent to the original story. There are even random cameos that are just simply epic. The 911 dispatcher is probably my favorite. I will say that THE animated Batman makes an in-person appearance. See if you can pick out Kevin Conroy (Batman: Gotham Knight, Batman vs. Robin, Justice League Action) by voice!

This movie is pretty much the final tick mark on a long list of why I now believe that Johnny Depp (Rango, The Rum Diary, Mortdecai) is really an evolved human with shapeshifting abilities. The way he just becomes someone else in such nuanced performances in parts both large and small is just simply amazing to me. I absolutely adore his character of the ‘man hunter’ in these movies. The soft-spoken French-Canadian is absolutely hilarious. He’s such a good ‘straight man’, to use the old comedic term, while absolute insanity is happening to and around him.


I’ve got to say, though – how cool must it have been to be Lily-Rose Depp (Tusk, The Dancer, Planetarium) filming this?! She got to work closely with her dad, her best friend Harley Quin Smith (Clerks II, Holidays, Supergirl), her mom playing the history teacher, and with her little brother being a feisty cereal-munching convenience store kid. Add the rest of the cast and Kevin Smith (Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Red State, Holidays) in there and that set had to have been a riot. Oh to have been a fly on the wall. I can hope there’s some sort of gag reel on the Blu-Ray. I’ll be getting it eventually.

This felt a little bit like a Canadian Clerks (1994) with a broader setting scope and a slice of life of the modern younger generation – with a crazy twist.

This is not a movie that you watch and expect to see award nominations (except maybe in the comedy category). Some of the Canadian accents were a little campy and over the top at times. That being said, if you’re a fan of Smith’s work, this will feel right at home for you. They did a pretty good job staying in the PG-13 range, as well – especially considering they had to literally fight the MPAA for it.

I could ramble on forever about this film and all the familiar faces involved – but the bottom line really is that I loved the movie and will definitely be watching it again (and again) to see what I might’ve missed. This is a must-see for any Smith fan.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 20%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 39%

Netflix’s Prediction for Selina – 4.5/5
Selina’s Trust-the-Dice Score5/5

Netflix’s Prediction for Cat – 4/5
Cat’s Trust-the-Dice Score5/5

P.S. Harley Quinn and Lily-Rose sing the Canadian anthem during the beginning of the credits. Near the end of the credits there’s an excerpt from Kevin Smith’s podcast.

Movie Trailer:

Monday, January 23, 2017

The Dirties (2013)



Number Rolled: 82
Movie Name/Year: The Dirties (2013)
Tagline: We’re just here for the bad guys.
Genre: Drama, Indie
Length: 82 minutes
Rating: NR
Production Companies: Zapruder Films, XYZ Films, Kevin Smith Movie Club
Producer: Alison Arnot, Matt Johnson, Step Johnson, Matthew Miller, Evan Morgan, Jared Raab
Director: Matt Johnson
Writer: Josh Boles, Matt Johnson, Matthew Miller, Evan Morgan
Actors: Matt Johnson, Owen Williams, Padraig Singal, Ross Hill, Krista Madison, Shailene Garnett, Josh Boles, Brandon Wickens, Alen Delain, Paul Daniel Ayotte, Jordan Foster, David Matheson, Jay McCarrol, Dan Fewings, Alison Arnot
Stunt Doubles: None

Languages
Speech Available: English
Subtitles Available: English

Blurb from Netflix: Two film geeks make a movie about getting revenge on a group of bullies who target them at school. Then they decide to take things a step further.

Selina’s Point of View:
Bullying is a subject that hits very close to home for me, but this film bypassed the general stories about bullies and went a much more violent route than I took. The Dirties is a very gritty, honest look at the minds of teens on the wrong end of other student’s puberty. It’s frightening and morbid… and relatable.

Clearly, I never shot up my school. That doesn’t mean I didn’t fantasize about punching people in the face, it just means I never actually held a gun to their heads. No. My response to the bullies that latched on to me, was to stop going.

Starting in Junior High, I just… stopped.

It’s easy to judge the main characters of this story, or kids lashing out in general, but there’s one simple fact that is very clearly highlighted in this film. One person who cares. One person getting involved. One person trying to help… can be the difference between life and death.

I’m not sympathizing with school shooters. I feel like I don’t need to say anything about that because it’s obvious – that road is the wrong one. What I’m saying is that sometimes, that end result could have been prevented.


I’ve heard a lot of arguments against that thought. My favorite one is, “why didn’t they just tell one of their teachers?” Another version being: “if they’d told an adult, someone would have stepped in.” That’s not always true. When it is true, it’s not always helpful.

Let me explain.

In Junior High School, I sat next to a horrible boy in science class. I still remember his name clear as day and, over a decade later, I still hate him to the core of my being. His name was Alex.

Every day I would sit next to him in class and every day he would strike up conversation. For about a week, I took the bait. Five sentences in, he would begin saying some the most rapey things to me that you could possibly imagine. Even after I stopped taking the bait, he would continue on.

This went on for a month before I told my science teacher I wasn’t comfortable sitting next to him.

My science teacher told me to get over it. I believe his name was Mr. Katz. He was the least of my worries, though.

Since he wouldn’t listen to me, I told the next teacher I saw on any given day – my Social Studies teacher, Mr. Orlando.

I don’t know what went through Mr. Orlando’s head when I told him, in a whispered tone, the things that Alex was saying to me. I don’t know if he didn’t believe me, or if he didn’t care… but instead of doing something about it, he thought it would make an amazing lesson for the kids in class.

So he made a mock trial out of it.

Alex and I both got ‘lawyers’ (other kids in the class). We called witnesses and we testified ourselves. I can’t remember if Mr. Orlando was the judge or if one of the other kids in the class was chosen for the ‘part’. I didn’t care, but not taking part wasn’t an option. He threatened to fail me.

I was humiliated. The stupid ‘trial’ went on for about a week of classes and the majority of it is a blur at this time in my life. I still remember some things very clearly, though.

The teacher made me testify in front of the whole class. As a pre-teen, I felt incredibly uncomfortable telling ANYONE what Alex was saying to me. Hell, as an adult that has since attended a porn convention, I still feel uncomfortable. So, I didn’t say it out-loud. I said I couldn’t. The ‘lawyer’ that was acting for Alex made a big deal out of the fact that I couldn’t say any of it out loud and, by the end of the trial, I had lost.


Not only had Mr. Orlando taken something humiliating and degrading and amped it up to max, but I lost the bullshit trial and was forced to continue sitting next to Alex for the rest of that Science class. I believed every student in the school believed that I was a pervert liar. I felt incredibly alone.

And then people wondered why I started cutting class.

I started cutting class because I wanted to die while I was there. Every second that I spent in any classroom in that school made me want to kill myself. I never trusted another authority figure again.

Anne Sullivan. P.S. 238. I’m convinced that if there is a hell, that place would be it. I’m not even sure I’d categorize the Mr. Orlando bullshit as the worst of what happened to me there.

People watch films like The Dirties and they doubt that things could get that bad. They doubt that teachers could be so oblivious. They doubt that friends could stay silent instead of turning people in or getting help. I promise you that movies like this are not stretching the truth. Bullies can destroy lives, even at that age. I often wonder where I would be if things like that hadn’t happened to me back then. If the people I thought I could count on had gotten me help.

There was one person during JHS that actually tried to help me near the end… but things only really got better much later on in my life.

The Dirties didn’t sugar coat things. I think that’s incredibly important in a film like this.

It was, however, full of cringe, which I don’t really do well with, even though it drove home the point of the film. It showed the signs as other people should have seen them. It showed the downward spiral. It showed the switch from internalizing to externalizing so well that you could almost pin-point the moment when it happened.

It was a first film for many of the people involved and, keeping that in mind, it was a very good start for them. The writers and the director have a great deal of potential in them. I was particularly fond of the open ending. I’ve mentioned in the past that I really enjoy films that have an ending that allow people to debate over what happened.

Hell, I’m still arguing with my friend Kris over what happened at the end of In Bruges (2008).

I would definitely recommend this film and - if you do watch it - pay attention.


Cat’s Point of View:
I’m going to be blunt here. I hated this movie. Here’s where it gets tricky – the hate isn’t a bad thing.

Matt Johnson (Diamond Tongue, How Heavy This Hammer, Operation Avalanche), whom wrote, directed, and starred in the movie, took a serious risk here. The movie had ‘hot-button’ and ‘trigger warning’ all over it.

As a debut movie from someone fresh out of film school, it’s not too shabby. Hell, it got the attention of Kevin Smith (Cop Out, Red State, Tusk) whom became a distributor and champion of this little film that could. It was discovered after winning a film festival prize, and Smith came aboard with his Kevin Smith Movie Club project.

Smith has touted this film as something important to watch. Now that I have, I don’t see myself ever doing it again.

I remember clearly the day Columbine happened. I know where I was, and what I was doing. I was at work and on the phone with a customer when a streaming news service ticker went across my monitor describing the situation in progress. It’s one of those things you just don’t forget. It’s worrisome to me that I don’t have the same visceral memory for Sandy Hook. It makes me begin to question how desensitized I am.

There’s a real issue that this pokes at. School bullying is an age-old problem. I was bullied quite a bit when I was younger. I had a funny name, red hair, glasses, and freckles. Later, it was that I read a lot or it was my weight as eating my feelings had become just as much an escape for me as the books I disappeared into were. Sometimes it was as simple as others not willing to move beyond the stupid mistakes of youth. Music is what saved me from the spiral I could have so easily fallen into – but that’s a story for another time.


Needless to say, the issues spotlighted by this movie resonated with me – uncomfortably so. I wanted to turn it off. I felt squirmy.

I feel I must tip my hat to this movie, in spite of my abhorrence, for its boldness and the relatively smooth camera work. This was supposed to be a found-footage sort of project. It did not, however, suffer from obnoxious levels of shaky-cam. All of my squirminess came from the movie, itself – and not motion sickness.

Alas, as I generally base my score on my enjoyment of the movie – it is going to be rather low. It would really depend on the potential audience as to whether I would recommend it to others or not.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 79%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 74%

Netflix’s Prediction for Selina – 3/5
Selina’s Trust-the-Dice Score5/5

Netflix’s Prediction for Cat – 2/5
Cat’s Trust-the-Dice Score2/5

The Random Rating: R

P.S. There are some images during the beginning of the credits.

Movie Trailer:

Sunday, January 22, 2017

In Memoriam, 2016: Part 3 (J-M)

By: Selina


Jack Riley


Age: 80
Date of Death: August 19
Cause of Death: Pneumonia
Occupation: Actor, Writer, Soundtrack
Number of IMDb Credits: 180
First IMDb Credit: "Days of Wine and Roses" Actor (1962)
Last IMDb Credit: "The Bob Newhart Show: Group Therapy" Himself (2014)


James Noble


Age: 94
Date of Death: March 28
Cause of Death: Stroke
Occupation: Actor, Producer
Number of IMDb Credits: 75
First IMDb Credit: "Actor's Studio" Actor (1950)
Last IMDb Credit: "Consequential Lies" Actor (2011)


James Stacy


Age: 79
Date of Death: September 9
Cause of Death: Allergic Reaction
Occupation: Actor, Soundtrack, Producer
Number of IMDb Credits: 57
First IMDb Credit: "Highway Patrol" Actor (1957)
Last IMDb Credit: "The New WKRP in Cincinnati" Actor (1992)


Janet Waldo


Age: 96
Date of Death: June 12
Cause of Death: Unknown Illness
Occupation: Actor, Soundtrack
Number of IMDb Credits: 149
First IMDb Credit: "Coconut Grove" Actor (1938)
Last IMDb Credit: "I Know that Voice" Herself (2013)


Jean Alexander


Age: 90
Date of Death: October 14
Cause of Death: Unknown Illness
Occupation: Actor, Soundtrack
Number of IMDb Credits: 71
First IMDb Credit: "Deadline Midnight" Actor (1961)
Last IMDb Credit: "2016: We Remember Part One" Archive Footage (2016)


Jean Shepard


Age: 78
Date of Death: October 16
Cause of Death: Parkinson’s Disease
Occupation: Actor, Writer, Producer, Crew
Number of IMDb Credits: 51
First IMDb Credit: "New Faces" Actor (1954)
Last IMDb Credit: "A Christmas Story 2" Writer (2012)


Jerry Doyle


Age: 60
Date of Death: July 27
Cause of Death: Natural Causes
Occupation: Actor, Soundtrack
Number of IMDb Credits: 25
First IMDb Credit: "Moonlighting" Actor (1987)
Last IMDb Credit: "Republic of Doyle" Actor (2010)


Joan “Chyna” Laurer


Age: 46
Date of Death: April 20
Cause of Death: Accidental Overdose
Occupation: Actor, Producer
Number of IMDb Credits: 169
First IMDb Credit: "WWF Friday Night's Main Event" Actor (1997)
Last IMDb Credit: "Don't Call Me Joanie" Herself (2017)


Joe Alaskey


Age: 63
Date of Death: February 3
Cause of Death: Cancer
Occupation: Actor, Soundtrack, Crew
Number of IMDb Credits: 148
First IMDb Credit: "Galtar and the Golden Lance" Actor (1985)
Last IMDb Credit: "Tom & Jerry: Back to Oz" In Memory Of (2016)


Joe Fleishaker


Age: 62
Date of Death: May 23
Cause of Death: Heart Attack
Occupation: Actor
Number of IMDb Credits: 24
First IMDb Credit: "Troma's War" Actor (1988)
Last IMDb Credit: "Return to Return to Nuke 'Em High Aka Vol.2" Actor - Rumored (2017)


Joe Santos


Age: 84
Date of Death: March 18
Cause of Death: Heart Attack
Occupation: Actor
Number of IMDb Credits: 98
First IMDb Credit: "Naked City" Actor (1963)
Last IMDb Credit: "Chronic" Actor (2015)


Jon English


Age: 66
Date of Death: March 9
Cause of Death: Surgery Complications
Occupation: Actor, Music Department, Composer, Soundtrack
Number of IMDb Credits: 38
First IMDb Credit: "Number 96" Actor (1972)
Last IMDb Credit: "RocKwiz" Soundtrack, Himself (2011)


Jon Polito


Age: 65
Date of Death: September 1
Cause of Death: Cancer
Occupation: Actor
Number of IMDb Credits: 226
First IMDb Credit: "The Gangster Chronicles" Actor (1981)
Last IMDb Credit: "The Maestro" Actor (2017)


Joseph Mascolo


Age: 87
Date of Death: December 8
Cause of Death: Alzheimer's Disease
Occupation: Actor
Number of IMDb Credits: 57
First IMDb Credit: "From These Roots" Actor (1958)
Last IMDb Credit: "Days of Our Lives" Actor (1982-2016)


Juan Gabriel


Age: 66
Date of Death: August 28
Cause of Death: Heart Attack
Occupation: Soundtrack, Actor, Composer, Music Department, Producer
Number of IMDb Credits: 68
First IMDb Credit: "En un lugar de La Manga" Soundtrack (1970)
Last IMDb Credit: "Hasta Que Te Conoci" Actor, Composer (2016)

\

Kay Starr


Age: 94
Date of Death: November 3
Cause of Death: Alzheimer's Disease
Occupation: Soundtrack, Actor
Number of IMDb Credits: 77
First IMDb Credit: "Stop That Dancin' Up There" Soundtrack, Actor (1944)
Last IMDb Credit: "American Pastoral" Soundtrack (2016)


Keith Emerson


Age: 71
Date of Death: March 10
Cause of Death: Suicide
Occupation: Music Department, Soundtrack, Composer, Actor, Camera Department, Producer
Number of IMDb Credits: 76
First IMDb Credit: "Bouton Rouge" Himself (1967)
Last IMDb Credit: "Hearing is Believing" Himself (2017)


Ken Howard


Age: 71
Date of Death: March 23
Cause of Death: Unknown Causes
Occupation: Actor, Soundtrack
Number of IMDb Credits: 151
First IMDb Credit: "N.Y.P.D." Actor (1969)
Last IMDb Credit: "22nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards" Himself (2016)


Kenny Baker


Age: 81
Date of Death: August 13
Cause of Death: Unknown Illness
Occupation: Actor, Soundtrack, Crew
Number of IMDb Credits: 82
First IMDb Credit: "Circus of Horrors" Actor (1960)
Last IMDb Credit: "The Star Wars Show" Archive Footage, In Loving Memory Of (2016)


Keo Woolford


Age: 49
Date of Death: November 28
Cause of Death: Stroke
Occupation: Actor, Producer, Director, Writer, Soundtrack, Stunts
Number of IMDb Credits: 37
First IMDb Credit: "Mahal Means Love and Expensive" Actor (1993)
Last IMDb Credit: "5th Passenger" Actor, Thanks (2017)


Kevin Meaney


Age: 60
Date of Death: October 21
Cause of Death: Unknown Causes
Occupation: Actor, Writer
Number of IMDb Credits: 71
First IMDb Credit: "An Evening at the Improv" Himself (1982)
Last IMDb Credit: "Hidden America with Jonah Ray" Actor (2016)


Larry Drake


Age: 67
Date of Death: March 17
Cause of Death: Blood Cancer
Occupation: Actor, Director
Number of IMDb Credits: 112
First IMDb Credit: "This Stuff'll Kill Ya!" Actor (1971)
Last IMDb Credit: "John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs" Archive Footage (2017)


Lee Reherman


Age: 49
Date of Death: February 29
Cause of Death: Complications from surgery
Occupation: Actor, Producer
Number of IMDb Credits: 113
First IMDb Credit: "Family Feud" Himself (1988)
Last IMDb Credit: "Hanukkah Hoops: A Shot in the Light" Executive Producer (2018)


Leon Haywood


Age: 74
Date of Death: April 5
Cause of Death: Natural Causes
Occupation: Soundtrack
Number of IMDb Credits: 30
First IMDb Credit: "Soul Train" Himself (1975-1980)
Last IMDb Credit: "Straight Outta Compton" Soundtrack Writer (2015)


Leon Russell


Age: 74
Date of Death: November 13
Cause of Death: Heart Attack
Occupation: Soundtrack, Music Department, Actor, Producer, Composer
Number of IMDb Credits: 139
First IMDb Credit: "The T.A.M.I. Show" Himself (1964)
Last IMDb Credit: "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" Soundtrack Writer (2016)


Leonard Cohen


Age: 82
Date of Death: November 7
Cause of Death: Complications from a fall
Occupation: Soundtrack, Composer, Actor, Writer, Music Department, Art Department, Crew
Number of IMDb Credits: 351
First IMDb Credit: "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen" Himself (1965)
Last IMDb Credit: "Strictly Come Dancing" Soundtrack Writer (2016)


Leonard White


Age: 99
Date of Death: January 2
Cause of Death: Natural Causes
Occupation: Producer, Actor, Director
Number of IMDb Credits: 56
First IMDb Credit: "Good Friday" Actor (1948)
Last IMDb Credit: "Avenging the Avengers" Archive Footage (2000)


Lisa Lynn Masters


Age: 52
Date of Death: November 15
Cause of Death: Suicide
Occupation: Actor, Art Director
Number of IMDb Credits: 20
First IMDb Credit: "Close Up" Actor (1996)
Last IMDb Credit: "Fishbowl" Actor (2015)


Liz Smith


Age: 95
Date of Death: December 24
Cause of Death: Natural Causes
Occupation: Actor
Number of IMDb Credits: 180
First IMDb Credit: "Leo the Last" Actor (1970)
Last IMDb Credit: "British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves" Archive Footage (2016)


Mack Rice


Age: 82
Date of Death: June 27
Cause of Death: Alzheimer's Disease
Occupation: Soundtrack
Number of IMDb Credits: 39
First IMDb Credit: "Wattstax" Soundtrack Writer (1973)
Last IMDb Credit: "Bad Santa 2" Soundtrack Writer (2016)


Madeleine LeBeau


Age: 92
Date of Death: May 1
Cause of Death: Complications of a Broken Leg
Occupation: Actor, Soundtrack
Number of IMDb Credits: 36
First IMDb Credit: "Young Girls in Trouble" Actor (1939)
Last IMDb Credit: "Here's Looking at You, Warner Bros." Soundtrack Preformer (1991)


Madeleine Sherwood


Age: 93
Date of Death: April 23
Cause of Death: Natural Causes
Occupation: Actor
Number of IMDb Credits: 70
First IMDb Credit: "The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse" Actor (1952)
Last IMDb Credit: "The Sixties" Archive Footage (2014)


Malik “Phife Dawg” Taylor


Age: 45
Date of Death: March 22
Cause of Death: Diabetes
Occupation: Soundtrack, Actor
Number of IMDb Credits: 51
First IMDb Credit: "Showtime at the Apollo" Himself (1990)
Last IMDb Credit: "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" Soundtrack Writer (2016)


Marni Nixon


Age: 86
Date of Death: July 24
Cause of Death: Breast Cancer
Occupation: Soundtrack, Actor, Music Department, Composer
Number of IMDb Credits: 65
First IMDb Credit: "The Bashful Bachelor" Actor (1942)
Last IMDb Credit: "Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age" Herself (2017)


Marvin Kaplan


Age: 89
Date of Death: August 25
Cause of Death: Natural Causes
Occupation: Actor, Writer, Producer
Number of IMDb Credits: 117
First IMDb Credit: "Adam's Rib" Actor (1949)
Last IMDb Credit: "Lookin' Up" Actor, Writer, Producer (2016)


Maurice White


Age: 74
Date of Death: February 3
Cause of Death: Parkinson's Disease
Occupation: Soundtrack, Composer, Music Department, Actor
Number of IMDb Credits: 155
First IMDb Credit: "Soul!" Himself (1973)
Last IMDb Credit: "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" Soundtrack Writer (2014-2016)


Merle Haggard


Age: 79
Date of Death: April 6
Cause of Death: Pneumonia
Occupation: Soundtrack, Music Department, Actor, Crew
Number of IMDb Credits: 201
First IMDb Credit: "Death Valley Days" Himself (1975)
Last IMDb Credit: "The American Epic Sessions" Himself (2017)


Michael Massee


Age: 64
Date of Death: October 20
Cause of Death: Stomach Cancer
Occupation: Actor
Number of IMDb Credits: 80
First IMDb Credit: "My Father is Coming" Actor (1991)
Last IMDb Credit: "Last Man Club" Actor (2016)


Michèle Morgan


Age: 96
Date of Death: December 20
Cause of Death: Natural Causes
Occupation: Actor, Soundtrack
Number of IMDb Credits: 126
First IMDb Credit: "Meet Miss Mozart" Actor (1936)
Last IMDb Credit: "Vivement dimanche prochain" Herself (2009-2011)


Mihaly “Michu” Meszaros


Age: 76
Date of Death: June 13
Cause of Death: Stroke Complications
Occupation: Actor, Crew, Stunts
Number of IMDb Credits: 10
First IMDb Credit: "ALF" Personal Assistant, Actor, Archive Footage (1986-2004)
Last IMDb Credit: "Death to Cupid" Actor (2015)


Muhammad Ali


Age: 74
Date of Death: June 3
Cause of Death: Septic Shock
Occupation: Actor, Soundtrack, Writer
Number of IMDb Credits: 321
First IMDb Credit: "Rome 1960: Games of the XVII Olympiad" Himself (1960)
Last IMDb Credit: "Pretty Dudes" In Memory Of (2017)