art school dropouts

YES, AUNTIE!: My Asian Auntie - Season Two

Back By Popular Demand, YES, AUNTIE! Is A Kung Fu Cinema Love Story If There Ever Was

The animated signature logo for the team at Art School Dropouts – or as filmmaker Joey Min calls it, the team’s kamon – is no stranger to the big screen among film festival regulars. Aside from this, it bodes considerably that the kamon now etches a milestone in Min’s progression, representing his New Jersey-based independent film banner since officiating his brand in 2016. Heeding fans who’ve pined for more of his hit webseries, My Asian Auntie, fans are cordially invited to take a gander at Min’s newest continuing oddity, My Asian Auntie: Season 2 – billed otherwise for his feature film debut henceforth as Yes, Auntie!. Several interesting footnotes here reside next to the homage it lends in its presentation, nodding to legendary producer Sammo Hung’s Corey Yuen-directed 1985 actioner, Yes Madam!. By resilient design, a once recalcitrant Hung eventually land a protégé in actor and aspiring stuntman, Robert Samuels, […]

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YES, AUNTIE!: Joey Min’s Feature Debut Pays Tribute To The Old School In The Official Poster

This Friday, folks are being invited to attend the official grand premiere of director Joey Min’s feature debut, Yes, Auntie!, as part of the Fist And Sword series at the Museum Of The Moving Image in New York City. The film is a cinema-woven edit of what’s slated to be a second season of their hit webseries, My Asian Auntie, which rose to fan acclaim and demand for more per the request of fans ardently following Min’s creative journey through his YouTube portal, Art School Dropouts. I’ve spent a great deal of time and typing to help promote this project along with interviews with both Min, in-house producer and lead cast members and rising stars Stephanie Pham and Angela Jordan. To say the least and so long as the next forty-eight hours go smoothly and the universe smiles on me, the proverbial icing on the cake here is I may […]

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HER HERO ACADEMIA: An Interview With Actress And Martial Artist Angela Jordan

Going forward, there will definitely be some significant changes in the atmosphere – albeit for the better. New partnerships and relationships will form and with that, new prospects to come in lieu of my own observations and coverage, and you can certainly tack on the name Angela Jordan to the list of folks adapting to the ever fluctuating atmosphere. It was precisely on March 21, 2016 when this super-talented New Jersey resident landed on my radar, and it’s been a thrill covering her ever since. Eventually taken under the wing of Joey Min and Stephanie Pham for a time at Art School Dropouts, Jordan’s burgeoning resumé in the independent online film scene has grown immensely with her proliferation as a desired favorite. The first of her next few appearances will be in the not-too-distant online premiere of the hotly-anticipated second episode of Power Rangers: Unworthy, from Deviant Children Productions and […]

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FIVE-A-DAY COUNTDOWN: Unleashed, Split Lip, The Knight Of Shadows: Between Yin And Yang, The Rookies, and Yes, Auntie!

Almost at 100! Here are five more: Unleashed: Directors Kwok Ka Hei and Ambrose Kwok are joined by producer Paco Wong to wager a new martial arts drama for next year. Sun Zhen Feng, Zheng Zi Ping, Venus Wong and Fire Lee lead the cast for a story about an underground fighter who sets out to defend his mentor’s honor against a former disciple, a former champion fresh out of prison. Chris Collins is on board as action director. Split Lip: I first caught onto this particular project from director Christ Sheffield back in August. He’s been eight years in the making and now he’s rolling out the new action thriller this year. Actress Dorée Seay stars as a contract killer betrayed by her mentor and forced to do what she does best in order to clear her name. It’s getting a screening in January over in Glendale, California with […]

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COME DRINK WITH ME: An Interview With Actress And Martial Artist Stephanie Pham

Coverage continues this week with Art School Dropouts as they now work to proliferate their latest webseries, Yes, Auntie!, which is also setting up a feature edit premiere at the Museum Of The Moving Image next month. From what I’ve gathered, the ASDO members will be in attendance for a Q&A at the January 4 screening, including one Stephanie Pham who has been with the group for several years now. She’s become one of the most vastly prolific talents on both sides of the camera and from a background of intellect and versatility, and poise that I’ve come to admire in the last four years and having shaken her hand on at least two occasions. After sharing my first-ever interview with Joey Min, Ms. Pham is next on my roster as of Monday with our Q&A below. Enjoy, and don’t forget to visit the museum’s website, and be sure to […]

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Hey New York City! Catch YES, AUNTIE!: MY ASIAN AUNTIE Season Two At The Museum Of The Moving Image In January!

East coast film professionals and indie kung fu fans in the tri-state area are invited to attend the official theatrical screening of Yes, Auntie!, the sequential second season of Art School Dropouts’ hit webseries, My Asian Auntie. Curated by Warrington Hudlin, select cast and crew will be in attendance at the Museum Of The Moving Image in the Astoria section of Queens, New York City on January 4, 2019. This kung fu action–packed nine-episode web series is filled with more kick ass fight scenes, comedic characters, and feel good vibes for all ages! In Season Two, Auntie (Joey Min) and Niece (Stephanie Pham) return alongside crime fighting DEA head, Momma (Legendary Hong Kong Action Star – Bobby Samuels) While mob boss Lester (Leroy Nguyen of Rising Tigers Films) gathers his minions, Assassin Angelo (Angela Jordan) and his mole Jefferson (Robert Jefferson of R4Films), to take care of business, Momma, Auntie, […]

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STARTING SOMEWHERE: An Interview With Art School Dropouts Founder, Actor And ‘Director Senpai’, Joey Min

Just shortly after announcing their newest ten-dollar ‘Thank You’ campaign on Kickstarter, the team at Art School Dropouts found themselves in lucrative straits as their crowdfunding platform accrued more than enough funds to throw a pizza party for a cast-and-crew screening and commentary for their feature film debut. This brings us to the official trailer now online for Yes, Auntie!: My Asian Auntie Season 2, produced and directed by in-house creatives Joey Min and Stephanie Pham who also star in the film. The plan is to the release the film in serial format just as they did with the first season in 2016 – only now they’ve amassed enough materials to weave together a feature-length format, marking a debut milestone for the team since the birth of ASDO in 2009, and prior to its affirmation just a few years ago. For this and for as long as I’ve been following […]

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MY ASIAN AUNTIE SEASON 2: YES AUNTIE! Star, Director Launches $10 Kickstarter With ‘Thank You’

The last several years have been great in getting to acquaint myself with filmmaker Joey Min and his team at Art School Dropouts. They’ve amassed multiple awards at festivals and continue to garner support from fans and viewers in a field that Min has been hustling in since long before when Team FistyleZ was a thing. Nowadays and with a rousing quintet of talents in collusion with some of the best of the best in the northeast, the team is on deck to finish up and release their first feature film in My Asian Auntie Season 2: Yes Auntie!. Having pulled together the essential resources needed, ASDO’s Min then took to the channel to launch a Kickstarter video to help raise $10 as a simple thank you to fans for years of genuine support. The Kickstarter does have a two-month time frame though, and so an independent group such as […]

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THE HIT LIST: November 26, 2018

It’s been a hell of a year. There are definitely a few things I want to share in that regard and will do in another post going into December. In the meantime, we have another installment of the Hit List with plenty of online gems to count and we begin with an inspirational jewel from actress, martial artist and filmmaker Maria Tran who is currently in tow with a female-fronted doc about stuntwomen in Asia. The playlist continues with entries from Andy Whitmarsh, Klem Kaan, Chris Schmidt Jr., A.J. Gagliardi, Chelsea Goldsmith, Josh Madison, Kevin R. James, Timothy Flood, Geneviève Doang, Shane D.R. Alson, Michael Laricchia, Jacob Pattison and Marian Sing, with direction and coordination reels by Kefi Abrikh, Marques Zaror and Czech Action Crew. Just a little more on the aforementioned Kevin R. James who appears to have a shortfilm project in the works called The Prodigies Production – […]

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THE HIT LIST: July 30, 2018

This week’s installment of The Hit List brings some stunning and inventive surprises…particularly if you’re a fan of 8-bit game lore, kung fu, power rangers and Johnny Cash. You read that last one correctly!

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THE HIT LIST: July 2, 2018

There are good things on the horizon for Film Combat Syndicate, and I can’t wait to show you. That’s all I can say right now, so I hope you will all follow along. From L to R (top): John Cihangir, Jesse Liskola, Bridgette Bentley, Jon Alagoa, Brian Monk From L to R (bottom): Alex Meglei, C.C. Weske, Yoshi Sudarso, Kayla Radomski, Josh Chavez In the meantime, The Hit List is back with another rousing installment for fans of action films and a deep appreciation for the stunt performers and action actors that make it all possible. We begin with another spectacular weekly playlist of stunt and action performance reels with entries from DeVille Vannik, Dominique Smith, Brian Host, Kate Angus, Talin Chat, Sergi Subito, Mami Speede Ito, Patrick Chan, Geo Corvera and Danny Rowe, and a powerful Emmy 2018 entry for Best Stunt Coordination for AMC’s Into The Badlands, edited […]

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THE HIT LIST: June 11, 2018

My weekend was a total blank so any weekend fun will have to wait until further notice. The Sense8 finale was great though and I highly recommend it. TOP: Vanessa Cater, Nick Clapuci, Brendon Huor, Cameron Early, Taylor Krasne Bott: Rustic B., Gee “Lil’ Bomb” Jay, Marie Fink, Wilson Sze, Jon Alagoa The Hit List, however, remains priority this week and so it goes with a nifty round of the latest reels from some of today’s best and burgeoning action actors and stunt performers, starting with Blindsided: The Game star Eric Jacobus who just rolled out his latest reel on Monday via Vimeo. Following that is a playlist comprised of reels from Marie Fink, Rustic Bodomov (a.k.a. Rustic B.), Glenn Chow, Joshua Romeo, Thomas Watson, Jen Bennett, Cameron Early, Wilson Sze, Alexander Kushch, Taylor Krasne, Spencer Davis, Kyle Murillo, Chad Mason, Vanessa Cater and co-star of the newly released action thriller, The […]

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THE HIT LIST: May 21, 2018

I almost spent my Sunday lingering which I felt like doing frankly, but this week’s Hit List needed to get going before long because I just know things are going to pile up like they did this past week and I really need to catch up. Needless to say, this will be the last Hit List installment until June 4 when we return with the usual round of exciting stunt and independent shortfilm content hitting the internets! L to R (top): Tazito Garcia, David William No, Thekla Hutyrova, Hayden Lam, Jonathan EusebioL to R (bottom): Dylan Rampulla, Luis Fernandez, Peter Jang, Dmitrious Bistrevsky, Veto Swarn The incredible, nimble actor and martial artist Andy Le gets things started in electric fashion with a training reel hailing Martial Club’s best, followed by Thekla Hutyrova, Luis Fernandez, Dylan Rampulla, Fernando Campos, Kiara Nowlin, Hawk Walts, János Bognár, Dmitrious Bistrevsky, Amanda Dellapenta and Bayland Kippenkroger. […]

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THE HIT LIST: March 19, 2018

I had it in mind this weekend to try and review a couple of films. That effort compounded into one and mainly for all of the stunt reel and shortfilm content I absorbed. A lot of the entries I found and received were overwhelmingly good, although there was just some fat I had to cut. But… I think this is a delightful gathering! L to R (top): Jenna Hellmuth, Anthony Hoang, Sean Kohnke, Matt Healey, Stephanie Pham L to R (bottom): Alexander Burgos, Ashley Fidow, Deville Van Niekirk, Hannah D. Scott, Adam Chase Shai DeBroux is up first in a new round of stunt reels to start The Hit List for the week, and with a lively montage of material more than happily shared including her work at Sloyerstunts, Wolf Stunts and even with Vlad Rimburg to boot. Continuing the playlist are stuntman Eugene Bonislavskiy, Anthony Oh, Alexander Burgos, Gabrielle […]

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THE HIT LIST: March 12, 2018

The second season of Marvel’s Jessica Jones was a great escape for the weekend. I’d also add Starz series, Spartacus and Korean miniseries Tong: Memories to the list. Matters pertaining to this week’s entries for The Hit List were all the same and very much entertaining, stunt reels, projects and teasers therein. From L to R (top): Brandon Shaw, Hans Marrero, Stephanie Pham, Shahaub Roudbari, Kyle Potter L to R (bottom): Selkie Hom, Cameron Okubo, Jose Guns Alves, Skyler Mowatt, Kylie Riddle The first of the three kicks off our weekly amalgam of gems as always and now with the stylings of stuntman Cameron Okubo, followed by Michael Bekemeier, Adam Shippey, Jonathan King, Heather Bonomo, Justin Fischer, Brandon Shaw, Justin Clarke, Jose Guns Alves, Kylie Riddle, Skyler Mowatt and stunt sibs David and Daren Nop showcasing their latest pairing in a work reel of their own. Rounding out the playlist […]

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THE HIT LIST: March 5, 2018

My weekend has been a little more entertaining than predicted – largely with my efforts on this site among other things. Furthermore, collecting Hit List content was a little bit more overwhelming but needless to say, I’m well over that hump because…well, I have stuff to do and catch up on. Ugh! L to R (top): Claire Hoogenboom, Kyle Murillo, Gee Alexander, Jeff Mayfield, Olga Miller L to R (bottom): Haga Akihiro, Temujin Shirzada, Gaby Rodriguez, Mark Poletti, Luc Antoine First up for this week’s installation of The Hit List welcomes a vimeo upload of filmmaker Dom Fred hailing from France who surprised me last year with several glimpses of his independent work, some of which you’ll catch in his latest demo reel via Vimeo. Following that is a nifty playlist featuring our weekly raft of stunt talents with reels by Jessica Meredith, Mark Poletti, Alex Dell’Aquila, Wadi Jones, Lance […]

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THE HIT LIST: December 4, 2017

Well, it’s about that time. The last Hit List entry for 2017 is upon us, and while it will be a little limited in content what with the slowdown of the holidays, it should still suffice. At any rate, it’s not like I haven’t told you all to subscribe to the hundreds or thousands of channels I’ve been sharing from. Quite the opposite! ? As always, we begin our weekly dining experience of Hit List thrills with an appetizer of terrific stunt reels, beginning with none other than stuntwoman and actress Heidi Moneymaker and stuntman and actor Jake Guinn. Just beneath those is a playlist ripe with stunt reels courtesy of Anita Clay, Cheech Vitale, Ari Loeb, Ben Hinnant, Dan Reardon, Jacqueline Holloway, Rabon Hutcherson II, Stephon Reynolds, Max Fisk (more on him later), Alexander Burgos, prolific Thai stunt team The Action Guys, and Ryan Glass’s latest parkour showcase with […]

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THE HIT LIST: November 27, 2017

Believe it or not, we’re coming down the wire with the Hit Lists of 2017! December 4 will be the last entry before I recommence things in January. Until then, I am also preparing content for the next several weeks in which I discuss upcoming films to look out for in 2018, so stick around for those as well. For now though, it’s business as usual for The Hit List assembling the week’s stunt and demo reels and projects. Stuntman, actor and filmmaker Diego Ramiro gives us an impressive showing this week with an spirited action comedy reel showcasing just what a versatile talent he is. He kicks off this week’s playlist with more reels by Kimberly Root, Andrew Nadanyi, Valisa Tate, Adam Carson, Marina Volkova, Geoffrey Boggs, Molly Thomas, Felix Cortes, Jeffrey Mayfield, Trevor de Groot and Chad Riley. It’s time for some trailer gems and thus, the past […]

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THE HIT LIST: November 20, 2017

I was a little more keen on taking this week off given the forthcoming holiday, but I was already on par for another installment of the Hit List so I figured “why not?”… Alas, we’ve arrived to another spiffy new around of demo reels and action gems to help warm you up. Cameron Bostanabad kicks off this week’s round of stunt and training reels followed by Wes Cochran, Braelyn Smallwood, Megan Dorn (https://www.megandorn.com), Andrew Mihalko, Jason Linere White, Barrett Coates, Al Dupont, Ryan Rasberry, Bryan Dodds, Joshua Zacharias and the daring feats of Kimberly Shannon Murphy (www.kimberlyshannon.net). Enjoy! This week is an especially ceremonial time for folks freshly off of this month’s Urban Action Showcase & Expo fallout. Angel Vasquez hails as yet another fledgling talent from Puerto Rico with plenty of time spent collaborating under fellow rising star Jose Manuel’s North Compass banner. Thus, Vasquez is poised to present […]

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THE HIT LIST: November 13, 2017

Friday night marked another big event weekend in which I had the opportunity to partially partake. A night of festive dining, laughter and comeradery that felt all too short for me, though I managed to fend off the sleep deprivation for a whole day to write about it. Feel free to check it out of you fancy it. Of course, the work doesn’t stop there. This week’s installment of the Hit List is packed with a fresh new load of film, stunt and screenfighting talent and much more. As such, it was actress and martial artist Geneviève Doang (STUDIO+ series Dragon Race) who left a striking impression on me a few Winters ago with one of the best action comedy short you’ll ever see involving two heroes kicking NAZI ass, Le Aventures De Tranh Et Nowak. The short, also starring actor Quentin d’Hainaut, was intially meant as a pilot for a […]

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