Every new action film starring Scott Adkins is a reason to celebrate. The British actor and martial artist has long been one of the most reliable performers in the genre. Not only committed to delivering the best possible on-screen action with every new project despite any budget or schedule limitations, his “story first” mindset and dedication to the craft of acting are unparalleled among his action film contemporaries.
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.
My weekend was brutal. Very. Thankfully I managed to muscle through in time with at least one of several reviews and another on the way.
Top (L to R): Marie Marolle, Chris Romrell, Li Jing, Andy Long, Ilana Collins
Bottom (L to R): Alex Lopoka, Max Huang, Sophie Cook, Michael DeCamp, Haga Akihiro
The Hit List, quite the task in and of itself, is still a priority and all for everyone’s enjoyment, as well as my way of showing some of these amazing cats my own appreciation. That includes stuntwoman Marie Marolle out of Montreal and currently based in London or wherever in the world her career takes her next. I had a wee chat with hr lare last week and I’d say she’s pretty much one of the biggest highlights of my month thusfar.
Indeedy, Ms. Marolle goes first in the stunt reel playlist to kick off this week’s installation followed by reels from more of some of today’s amazing and rising stunt talent, including Haga Akigiro, Rad Floria, Ilana Collins, Chris Romrell, Kendall Wells, Megan Hui, Matthew Perry Smith, Jackson Rozario, Rachel Star Withers, Vinny Silva, YouTube food and travel personality Sophie Cook, Sari Sabella, Michael DeCamp, Alice Reitveld, Anton Gurynov, Mam Smith and a riproaring reel of stuntastic proportions out of Canada from UBCP/ACTRA.
Off to promote some gems and for this, we have a new pre-lim poster for upcoming martial arts webseries, Voyeur Killings. Production is expected to move forward as planned this month with director Brian Southers tackling the story of a martial arts master who wages a one-woman war on high-profile rich and powerful men who systemically abuse women, and with none other than actress and stuntwoman Anna Kristina Ranoso wielding her choice as indicated in the fresh new ink below.
As for teasers and trailers, our next playlist kicks off with work from actor/director multihyphenate Lee McGeough who has since sought apply his craft accordingly for the shortfilm proof of concept, Chinatown London. Stu Laurie scripts the narrative centered on McGeough in the role of Sean Brady, a lifetime gangster now seeking a way out of the underworld life when his boss’s son sets out to employ him. The proof of concept short is exclusively available on at Amazon’s UK portal with McGeough reportedly working on a feature film expansion.
The second and last trailer is the latest since the launch of a campaign late last year courtesy of Golden Horde Productions with upcoming webseries, Fatal Blades. Leandro Mayor Martinez and Tatjana Tatar star in the story of a young mobster on a mission to rescue his captive girlfriend from his vicious rival, played by none other than Shirzada himself. Shirzada and Tatar share directing and lensing duties, respectively, for an upcoming 12-episode series with two versions – one each for Chinese online streaming and for YouTube to hopefully start airing this Spring or Summer.
This week welcomes an opportune music break courtesy of hip-hop trio, Migos, whose frontman, Quavos chairs as helmer along with director Sing J. Lee for their newest music video release, Stir Fry. At six-minutes, this one is plentiful in its delivery for Migos fans and kung fu cinema enthusiasts with an ample set-up for an explosive second half brimming with fists and kicks of fury. Also featured among our performers are PeiPei Alena Yuan and Mami Spede Ito with stuntwoman and multi-award winning martial arts master Jing Li and stuntman Michael Lehr who choreographs the fight action next for stunt coordinator Vince Cupone.
Kai Young makes an encore presentation here at the Hit List to kick off the Fights And Films segment, and he’s joined by Alfredo Sanchez just before we hit up Ulrik Bruchholz in a fantastic fight clip he’s since shared freely from an unfinished project called Straight Blast, which probably would have had a little more Mike Moeller had things gone as planned. Mykola Galagan rings in some test fight action out of Ukraine, and out of Russia with a prison-style fight gem from XGST Stunt Team.
Daniel Nelson and Nasri Hashim trade blows in a boxing practice piece of their own before we head out to Texas where Benjamin Redic II and Robert Steven Brown have commenced a decisive light saber battle for the fate of the galaxy, and Jackie Chan stunt team member and noted Bleeding Steel fight coordinator Max Huang emerges with co-star Alex Schmidt circa 2013 with a Wheels On Meals-inspired Jackie Chan fight scene.
Jessica Wake dresses to kill in a late 2017 noir action short from Brandon Champ Robinson which also has Billy R. Smith starring while Anthony Javier suits up as the hero the world needs to defeat Bronson Cameron in the first part of a Kamen Rider-inspired twofer. Hannah D. Scott leads The Rescue in a reupload of an action short from director Federico Berte, Laurent Demianoff helms riveting and brutal fight drama in My First K.O. starring Alex Lopoka and John Medalin with action by Marc David, and Film Combat Syndicate favorite Andy Long loses himself in a fight-loaded trance eight years in the making with independent action auteur Vlad Rimburg and co. in Enter The Vlad.
Rounding it all out is a heavy dose of comedic action with a humble nod to a classic game. Shenmue: Yokosuka Blues engages what Rising Tiger Films and Team Red Productions bring to the table as Mishashi Goro (Leroy Nguyen) fends off the blues, as well as his an uprising from pal Ryo-san’s gang led by none other than Team Red’s own Joseph Le.
Enjoy the hits, folks!
Top (L to R): Rachel Star Withers, Michael Lehr, Joseph Le, PeiPei Alena Yuan, Alice Rietveld
Bottom (L to R): Robert Steven Brown, Kai Young, Vlad Rinburg, Temujin Shirzada, Hannah D. Scott
The Hit List is ready and waiting for you with weekly entries every Monday evening at Eastern Standard Time (U.S.). Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and feel free to connect to last week’s installment for more online gems of indie stunt action. Also, if you or someone you know has an equally badass stunt reel or action short project that needs promoting or presenting, contact us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!
Frankly, I was getting used to being away for so long that I thought about foregoing The Hit List another week into the new year. Then I realized all these reels, practice fights and shorts that were emerging as I was collecting them were piling up on me and…well… I guess now its time to relieve myself some ?.
Top: Tanja Keller, Eric Watson, Sherry Rene, Tanguy Guinchard, Acei Martin
Bottom: Arman Ansari, Ryan Carr, Nathan Peoples, Samantha J. MacDonald, Stephen Koepfer
Alas, it’s 2018 on the evening of Monday, January 8 as of this post, thus, signaling the return of our aforementioned weekly column of said contents giving way to an audience for some of today’s top stunt performers and creatives.
First up is a prime offering of two Vimeo uploads by stunt professionals, actress Tanja Keller and stuntman Paul Varacchi. The stunt hits continue via YouTube playlist starting with Jackie Chan Stunt Team member and founder of his own stunt and film unit, actor and martial artist Andy Long who debuted last year in Vietnam with the action comedy, Luc Van Tien: Tuyet Dinh KungFu.
Stuntman and podcast host Ryan Carr continues this week’s full scale attack followed by reels courtesy of Sherry Rene, Jared Losano, John Nania, Acei Martin, Kent Lloyd, Jared Beaulieu, Taylor Castriota, Jonathan Mercedes, Bridgette Bentley, Stephen Koepfer, Lovel Johnson Jr. and Samantha MacDonald. Closing out the playlist are reels by Australia’s own Bluesanyu Films, Michael Yadvish’s New Jersey-based Yad-Fu Films, Art School Dropouts with a delightful, musical highlight reel of their previous year and Kamen Ramen Studios with an energizing wrap up of their own as well!
Actor and stuntman Aidan Pringle proved quite the hurdle in title form for the protagonist in Sean Kohnke’s 2017 action short, I’m Out Johnny. Not to be outdone by a one-and-done scenario though, Kohnke and writer/producer and cinematographer extraordinare Tanay Genco Ulgen have since already gotten the band back together for a second outing now titled I’m Out Johnny: Volume 2.0, for which he’s granted us a teaser brimming with Yakuza brutality to come.
Following that is an announcement teaser for upcoming action short, Omega Unit: The Last Option, from producing duo, actor and stuntman Jae Greene and director Mark Cheng who previously helped manifest Cheng’s featute debut, Ghost Source Zero. Also on deck is a trailer for Rising Tiger Films’s hotly anticipated Sony game adaptation shortfilm collaboration with Team Red’s Joseph Le for Shenmue: Yokozuka Blues, as well as a gripping teaser for Vanessa Wenzel’s Indiegogo-funded revenge drama, Auryon, from Prairie Kitten Productions, and Anthony Javier over in Winnipeg with a trailer for Kuya from
The Auryon poster is pretty fierce too!
And… at long last, we’ve reached the bottom of the hour with the first of this year’s weekly serving of stunt fights and shorts. FYI: I scrapped up a LOT of these between last month and now, and so I will be rolling them out as steady as I can with each week as the playlists accumulate. Quiet Flame Productions is the first to tune us in with a few seconds of fun from Chuck Johnson and a fellow by the name of Yutaka, followed by I AM WATER Stunts over in Texas with Robert Steven Brown and Benjamin Redic II trading a few blows of their own.
Rustic B. and Eric Shamm Watson keep the pace going with Assassin followed by a montage of fight practice clips hosted by LBP Stunts Chicago, and a pair of Kali-based packages first at Matt Philliben‘s YouTube channel, and second from Lauren Mary Kim’s fourth and newest entry this month in The Kali Diaries this time going head-to-head with Guro Marie Sia. Selwyn Huqueriza and Ed Mecate sharpen and heat things even further with a little knife action just before Spencer Mulligan cools it all off with a stormy new group piece featuring a cameo performance by that miserable bastard over the past week in the Northeastern U.S. known as Snowstorm Grayson.
Rapier Wit Studio is host this week to two practice fight clips out of Toronto before we pivot over to David Conk at Wolf Stunts for The Endangered with some elite performances by Eric Mbanda and Nik Pelekai, and then onto snow-covered scenery in Georgia for some more fight action by Lloyd Pitts and Ruben Maldonado. Following that is the continued work of someone who constantly continues to impress with his work, now adding Hand Over Fist to Bryan Sloyer’s stellar cinematic fight content with Kodaline providing the thematic, emotive musical backdrop.
Capping it all off is a slick, quality half-hour action comedy thriller from Team STAMA in the form of USB Protocol, a story centered on one man’s neck-deep troubles after finding himself in possession of sensitive material. Swiss action actor and stuntman Tanguy Guinchard leads the narrative for this one and you’re definitely going to want to dig into this bit of Swedish badassery.
Enjoy the hits!
Stay tuned for more where these hits came from and look for FCSyndicate on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Also, SHARE the Hit List with friends who love great action and stuntwork, and if you’re a creative or performer with something up your sleeve that deserves an audience, contact us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!
Top: Jared Losano, Bridgette Bentley, Lloyd Pitts, Taylor Castriota, Eric Mbanda
Bottom: Ruben Maldonado, Joseph V. Oreste, Lauren Mary Kim, Nik Pelekai, Sean Kohnke
Happy New Year everyone!
As we speak, I am completely overwhelmed and ecstatic with what I just saw over the past week and this weekend. Sadly none of it includes what happened at New York Comic Con since I couldn’t go but I had plenty to keep busy with.
That stated, I was never personally well acquainted with Andy Long until around my first or second year as a writer here at Film Combat Syndicate. However, the work he’s amassed and contributed to the genre and the people of his field makes him one of the most sought after people to date for a guy that lives so far away from most others, and it’s partly by way of the internet in its evolution for more than twenty years now that his relevance and success keeps him going, having collaborated with numerous teams and filmmakers aplenty, at home and abroad. Independent AND mainstream.
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