Martial Club
You Like Martial Club After EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE? Better Believe There’s More Where That Came From!
Just a quick Google search online about actress Michelle Yeoh’s new movie, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and you needn’t wait too long before stumbling upon the names of Andy Le, Brian Le and Daniel Mah, the pointmen of stunt, film and fight choreography troupe, Martial Club.
“KICK STARTER” – An explorative insight into the lesser-known kickers of film and cinema.
When it comes to combat, and more specifically martial arts there is a certain exotic appeal to one specific element – kicks. Despite the visibility of grappling thanks in no small part to the prevalence of MMA these days, there is something spectacular about seeing kick techniques demonstrated with real expertise. Though the practicality of high kicks in real combat is always debated, those that can utilize their feet and legs as weapons is no doubt an impressive feat (no pun intended)
HANUMAN: BTS Posts Tease Khmer Martial Arts Action And Thrills Featuring ‘The Paper Tigers’ And ‘Fast Vengenace’ Actors
Little is all but known about what lies ahead for director Pearry Reginald Teo’s next endeavor, save for the fact that he’s already deep into his next project, Hanuman, which sees him partnering once again with his Fast Vengeance star D.Y. Sao.
FIST OF FURY: Martial Club Roars Online With Its Newest Kung Fu Cinema Homage
It’s taken more than a year until its release, but it was just last week that Martial Club launched its newest kung fu fan film, Fist Of Fury, popularly attributed to cinematic hero Chen Zhen, ironically potrayed by the likes of Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Donnie Yen among others.The project is headed by Andy Le who directs and stars opposite fellow actor and Martial Club founder Brian Le, in yet another phenomenal team effort with Daniel Mah, and assistant director Joseph Le who is best known of late for his own fan contributions via Team Red, like Afro Samurai Champloo, and a Mulan musical action short starring Jackie Kim.The team have also released two behind the scenes featurettes on the project, which are both now online following yesterday’s Part Two release. Make no mistake though: The team is on a mission with current efforts that span television, as well as several feature films, including Andy Long’s own indie debut, Luc Van Tien: Kungfu Hustle, and Bao Tran’s The Paper Tigers, which isn’t far off from an upcoming premiere date to be officially announced in just a few days as of this article.Also, the team is still stirring up their own in-house feature film project, currently in its embryonic state but nonetheless bodes as a promising service to genre fans alike. Fist Of Fury is but one example out of nearly ten years of online shorts made with the objective of drawing the team closer to their goals as filmmakers, all of which are but a taste of things to come.Enjoy!
THE HIT LIST: December 23, 2019
Courtesy of Jarrod Crooks
THE HIT LIST: November 25, 2019
Still from “Old Challenger” (YouTube: JayKwon)
THE HIT LIST: September 2, 2019
Courtesy of KingLion ST
THE HIT LIST: May 13, 2019
At long last, it’s been another two weeks since then and so it’s time to present the latest finds from around the web for another installment of The Hit List.
Review: LUC VAN TIEN: KUNG FU WARRIOR Hustles Next-Generation Kung Fu Movie Muscle
Jackie Chan Stuntmen Association member and burgeoning action star, actor Andy Long Nguyen fulfilled a dream back in 2016 with the production of Vietnamese martial arts comedy, Lục Vân Tiên: Kung Fu Warrior. It’s a milestone achievement for Nguyen who has come a long way from his heyday in Pforzheim to becoming one of the most prolific and active members in his field today – a career path paved in part with inspiration from one of the genre’s greatest cinematic heroes.
THE HIT LIST: April 29, 2019
I’m not even halfway done with the stuff I need to get finished with but it’s been two weeks and so it’s definite time for another installment of the Hit List to help keep things kinetic and moving for our devoted stunt talents out there.
THE HIT LIST: February 25, 2019
My weekend was spent loading up on questions for certain individuals in movies, so we’ll see what comes of it in the next thirty days. Not to mention a review but…that one comes Tuesday or hopefully sooner.
THE HIT LIST: January 7, 2019
I sincerely hope everyone reading this had the best, most memorable Holliday season and New Year they could. It was a bit rocky the last two weeks leading up to my birthday on Friday, but I can’t even begin (try as I may) to illustrate how wonderful it was to attend my first ever ceremonial premiere event for a movie with friends.
Martial Club’s Andy Le: ‘We Are Making A Martial Club Movie, It’s Gonna Kick Ass And You Better Believe It!’
Stunt performance, martial arts and film troupe, Martial Club, are affirming followers of their channel and social media on plans to make a martial arts feature film. While stunt performer, martial artist and dynamic Instagram kicker Brian Le was the first to give mention to the project earlier this week, his brother, fellow actor, stunt performer and martial artist Andy Le took to their Martial Club YouTube channel to explain the team’s latest updates.
THE HIT LIST: October 22, 2018
A fever kicked my butt again over the weekend but I was lucky to be on the better end of it by Monday to get this week’s Hit List done!..
THE HIT LIST: September 17, 2018
Apart from working on The Hit List and other content, Bleach pretty much took the brunt of my attention over the weekend and I have no regrets. I love that movie to bits.
THE HIT LIST: February 12, 2018
Welp, I made good use of my weekend with some great anime on top of work and a pair of reviews. Not much else really. Putting together the hit list was a bit weary since I couldn’t find anything in trailers or things of that nature.
L to R (top): Jade Xu, Brian Le, Cynthia Rothrock, Andy Le, Dana Rasmussen
L to R (bottom): Stefan Brysha, Sarah Purdum, Greg Poljacik, Lynn Jung, Jon Alagoa
However…there is still plenty to share in terms if content this week and thus, we have a fresh batch of stunt and demo reels to kick it all off courtesy of World Wushu Champion, actress and martial artist Jade Xu, followed by 3run’s Adam Brashaw, and stunt players Dana Rasmussen, Jackie Chan Stunt Team member Lee Huang, and Storm Freerun’s Lynn Jung with Greg Poljacik, Lana Katz, Matt Kennedy, Mallory Thompson, Stefan Brysha, Sarah Purdum, Jacob Hotovy, Sadiqua Bynum, John Jeffrey Arias and Heather Woods comprising the week’s stunt playlist.
Enjoy!
A lack of promotional bits can be a bit crippling. Here thankfully I have a little something to fill in the gap some, particularly for Cynthia Rothrock fans who might be keen on following her exploits on her official YouTube channel. She’s recently shared a small, albeit lengthy montage of classic action scenes from her career in Hong Kong action cinema with footage from Magic Crystal, Prince Of The Son, The Inspector Wears Skirts and more!
Fight scenery is where it’s at this week and we start with a small batch of CQC concepts led by Jay Kwon over at the Sloyerstunts channel, and German action wunderkind Mike Moeller doling out some sword practice gems while Rachel Star Withers trades blows with Jarvis Garvin in Seneca Jared Robinson’s The Pursuit and Daredrex Productions pits footwork and fightfare with Darren Holmquist and Spidey Turner. Soners Films’s Yakuza: Kiwami delivers the second of a twofer inspired by the popular Yakuza game from director and actor Jon Alagoa, Joseph Roark graces the screen with Chloe Gingold and dancer Johanna Seidel in The Ballerina and The Swordsman, Mickey Arce helms a tale of doomed romance in Pam from Lunar Stunts Action Cinema and Martial Club’s Le Brothers kick it old school in Dance Of The Drunken Mantis.
Last and far, FAR from least is a fantastic little jewel from stuntman and filmmaker Famisa Yusuf Elfajri with Ghaza Akbar as an ex-con out to get even against the men who framed him in Residivis. It’s subtitled as well so there will be plenty to comprehend per the narrative along with the impressive fight action to boot.
Once more, enjoy!
L to R (top): Mallory Thompson, Khai Thach, Lana Katz, Jacob Hotovy, Sadiqua Bynum
The Hit List will be back next week so if you have an equally awesome project or demo reel to share, link us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com, and don’t miss last week’s entries either!
THE HIT LIST: July 10, 2017
Well, at least for me the bad news is that I relapsed again and now I have another cold. That makes two this summer.
The good news is I had stuff to do so I got in some time to write two reviews, one of which you can check out on your own time. As for all else, I had people sending me stuff for the Hit List and there was no way I could pass up sharing it. Some of you know me as much.
Kicking it off this week is a brand new block of jam-packed stunt and action reels starting with the latest from Black Site star, actress and martial artist Samantha Schnitzler via Vimeo. The playlist beneath cues onward from there beginning with legendary stunt coordinator Bruce Law followed by reels from Alyma Dorsey, David Conk, Tyler Witte, Jonathan Pang, Marissa Labog, Lee Gifford, Jyo “Six” Carolino, Leonard Zhang, Ryan Carr, Mami Spéede Ito, Yavuz Topuz and Martial Club’s own Andy Le.
Samantha Schnitzler : Action Reel from Samantha Schnitzler on Vimeo.
As far as promotion goes, some of this is pretty large scale and I only have mostly Vimeo uploads to work with, so my apologies ahead of time. The stuff here is pretty intense and especially with what lies ahead from Felix King and Eric Van Arsdale in the upcoming short, Broken Wing. Stunt and action sequences respectively from Elizabeth Davidovich and choreographer Gui DaSilva aren’t much to sample from here in this teaser but we have Spencer Mulligan engulfed in flames and looking several degrees of pissed. I smell vengeance coming.
Following that is a project I’ve had the pleasure to screen among the workstash of actor, martial artist and budding filmmaker Peter Jang with the new crime thriller, Nothing Is Sacred. Jang and actor Christian Howard present a grim tale of betrayal and redemption where a gang enforcer’s only means of protecting his sister and niece from his adopted mother’s sex trafficking ring is to follow her instructions and kill his brother in-law. After winning Best Action Thriller at the Hollywood International Moving Pictures Film Festival and Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards in addition to Best Producer(s) and Best First Time Filmmaker, its next stop will be the Shortz! Film Festival in Chico, CA on July 16th.
Last and far from least is a trailer for Shelagh Rowan-Legg’s second shortfilm, Flow, following a crowdfunding campaign for a dystopian action comedy set in a post-Brexit UK amid an epic battle wherein two female soldiers, Taylor and Smith, are tenaciously fighting a war of their own. Flow stars Jamie Birkett and Lucy Clements and is set to screen on July 29 at Fantasia Festival in accordance with the premiere of Lowell Dean’s action horror sequel, Another Wolfcop.
Of course, there’s also the matter of a newly released photo from the past week if you’re a fan of online action hero, actor and martial artist Eric Jacobus. Blindsided 2 is well underway from director and noted Hollywood stunt professional Clayton Barber with his star currently seen squaring off with fellow actor and martial artist David William No who produced the first short as he does the new installment.
There’s more action to come, but it’s time for a bit of a music break and I tip my hat to stunt coordinator Cory DeMeyers for pointing into the direction of Bad Royale’s latest music video premiere with Silver, All I Can Do. Actor Deangelo Harding leads the way as the hero of his own video game-themed tale as he fights to reunite with his date, actress Bree Essrig, against a horde of bouncers, a wrestler, a kickass tailor, and actor Jarrett Sleeper armed with delicious lemonbars and some deadly moves of his own. Enjoy!
Time to get into the action this week and the first comes courtesy of Vimeo with a late entry from stunt performer Lee Gifford. You’ll find his latest reel in the initial playlist while his own shortfilm contribution here leads the way for this segment of the Hit List with Waheed AlQawasmi’s 2016 action comedy short, Delta Goldfish.
Beneath that is this week’s playlist ripe with a batch of test fight action pieces and shortfilm projects including one that just released today. Dardrex Production‘s own Martin Chan and Leonard Zhang get things started along with the latest test fight collab with Arman Ansari and Douglas Dapaah-Agyemang over in Finland, and YouTube comedic personality, Tiburcio teaching Darren Holmquist and Rustic B. a thing or two in Black Belt vs. Mexican Belt.
We then head off to Marcus Shakesheff and Ashley Beck as they settle their own score at Leavesden Studios in a Star Wars-inspired lightsaber battle to the death before panning over to Wilder Herms 2017 My Rode Reel entry, The Block with Mark Poletti and Julie Zhan. Following that are performers Tatiana DeKhytar and Nicole Mae clashing fisticuffs and cold steel for Dragon Phoenix Entertainment in Weapon Fighter while Matt Philliben and Joe Kras take their pound-for-pound haze to the next level with Bushido Dream.
Continuing the action is filmmaker Danny Leysner whose most recent get-together in Amsterdam with high-caliber action talent and choreographer Joey Ansah saw the Spring release of Leynser’s revenge thriller debut, Cible, starring Geoffrey Thompson as a man afflicted with a near-fatal brain injury that nulls pain, bolstering his vengeful bloodlust against his former crimeboss who murdered the woman he loved. We featured this project back in May, but we’re more than proud to host it again as part of Hit List history and further hope that Danny and Joey will continue to bring even more magic in the months to come.
Last and far from least is a project that turns us once again to actor and martial artist Fabien Garcia (Die Fighting, Drained World, Dragon Ball Z: Light Of Hope) who plays antagonist and fight choreographer to director Anthony Pietromonaco’s newly released and smartly choreographed Star Wars fan film, Dark Legacy, starring Erin Wu as an imprisoned Sith apprentice in training. The shortfilm was exclusively released in the Creators column at Vice.com but we’ve included it as a meaty and supercharged, exciting finale to this week’s Hit List.
The players below are yours forh the taking. You know what to do!…
Delta Goldfish | Action Stunt Film from WAFILMS on Vimeo.
Feel free to check out last week’s entries and endulge to your heart’s content, and sub to the channels for your show of support! Also, if you or someone you know has a project or a reel that deserves an audience or a signal boost of some kind, email us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com and run it by us so we can have a stab at it.
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