Back in 2012, I had been about four or five years away from the online action community since its burgeoning began over at The Stunt People forum – the unfortunate perks of not having a working computer, sadly.
I’ve written all this on three hours of sleep after an awesome Saturday evening. Still in recovery, yes, but nonetheless willing and able to keep the Hit List action going for another week!
SHADOW GIRL is a magic-realist tale about a young woman who has faded to the point of becoming invisible and must find her way back into the world. After more than a decade of solitude and making a living in the shadows as a paparazzi photographer, Holly (Thirlby) meets the one man who can see her, Shane Blackwell (Ritchson), a disgraced MMA fighter working as a bouncer. Holly discovers that it was one of her tabloid photographs that caused his downfall, and that she must restore him to his former glory if she wants to regain a foothold in the world around her. With Shane, Holly awakens to love but also to the reality that she bears more responsibility for her fate than she ever imagined.
My weekend was good! Well… not terrible anyway. Atomic Blonde was on my agenda and I stand by my last words in that piece as we now approach a new week with another installment of The Hit List.
My weekend was a much-deserved quiet getaway. Didn’t get to go out or anything but I did get in some extracurricular viewing and you’ll see some bits about that on my Instagram page if you’re following me.
If not, then clicking here is how you can do just that. Afterwards, you’re more than welcome to spend this moment getting in on some weekly Hit List fun with some of today’s upcoming stunt talents. A resplendent, firey mix of freerunning, falls and and film fighting ensue with Anna Griukach, Corey Tomicic, Alix Schwartz, Thomas Watson, Kate Angus, Andrew Nadanyi, Lacey Robinson, Glenn McCuen, Athena Perample, Xandar Chabrieay, Bethany Levy, Zoltan Hodi, Kyal Scott, Damian Mavis and the automotive catastrophic stylings of stunt coordinator Michel Julienne.
There are a couple of projects worth lending an eye to as their completion nears, first of which slated to arrive this Winter. The Omega, hailing from filmmaker Steven Michael has a GoFundMe campaign to help wrap things up for a story set in the distant future where a squad of scouts find themselves on a harrowing last ditch mission to preserve what’s left of mankind in the wake of centuries-old nuclear war and on-going conflict between five walled-off cities.
You can read more about The Omega, its cast and crew and their m.o. at the official GoFundMe page, while you can also catch their latest teaser for Ashley Beck’s newest action short, Abducted, as well as a ceremonial first trailer for Michael S. Moore’s milestone crowdfunded Kiai-Kick Films shortfilm adaptation, El Gato Negro: Prey, following its debut at the premiere Texas Latino Comic Con over the weekend.
The last phase of the Hit List has some really great material and we begin with Daniel Neslon and pair of experimental fight choreography pieces extrapolated from Marvel’s Captain America films – Winter Soldier and Civil War. Film Combat Syndicate favorites Tara Macken and Shahaub Roudbari follow through with a medley of kinetic Jiu Jitsu fight choreography at Inglewood’s 87Eleven gym just before we see Pejuang Stunt Indonesia keeping the momentum going in a group test fight of their own. Muhammet Aksoy and prolific action actor Mike Moeller also make their return to the Hit List in a reupload of a practice fight from late last year while Luis Fernandez hunts down Xavier Luo in Bluenight Productions’s latest, The Fugitive.
Veto Swarn and Jonathan Pantera Wallace mix it up with some Muay Thai and Capoeira in their new practice fight lensed by Steven Chan before catching this week’s return of film duo Vlad Rimburg and Emmanuel Manzanares with another BTS pre-viz clip stemming from upcoming game release, Batman: The Telltale Series, and Nathan Barris evens the score in iStunt Academy serial project, Outnumbered.
Up next is one badass shortfilm that recently had its exclusive debut on the Dust online network. It hails from director Steve Petersen (Erebus) who happens to be one of the best and most outstanding creatives I’ve ever observed, and his latest treatment of 2012 Dark Horse Comics property, dystopian aciton sci-fi, Number 13, is a testament of that fact. The shortfilm takes its cues from the August 2013 issue in which ouy bionically equipped hero sets out in search of a father he can’t remember, all while battling swarms of heavily armed creatures with a visual gloss that harkened back to my appreciation of Kiriya Kaz’s 2004 manga adaptation, Casshern. Gizmodo got some hits in their own notable coverage this month and you can learn more about the short there, and though the video is only a few minutes long, a few minutes is all this project needs to get you looking in his direction…unless you’ve seen Erebus in which case, you’re all caught up!
Next in line is an epic prop-battle between stunt pair Caitlin Huston and Omar Zaki in Netflix And Kill, with filmmaker Matthew T. Robinson following suit with two independent action finds I felt to be really impressive – Cornered and Shelter, host to performances by Saskia Allen, Jon Slayer, Tom Barnett and fight choreographer Marc Rodriguez-Bernet. Front and center thereafter is Mark Miscione as a fighter challenged in a 3-on-1 underground brawl in the aforementioned Manzanares’s latest brutal, pulse-pounding ode to martial arts pioneer and author, Judo founder Kano Jigoro with Bryan Cartago, Bryan Sloyer and Gui DaSilva also starring.
Last and far from least is something of a treat courtesy of Crunchyroll’s latest 14-minute special, Children Of Ether. Having chased an ample diet of anime for the last two years, I’m proud to add this one as a grand finale to this week’s Hit List from director LaSean Thomas and centered on a post-apocalyptic tale of a young, afflicted swordswoman on a trepidating quest to learn more about what’s happening to her in the year’s since her father’s murder.
I thought this would be a magnificent addition to the Hit List and a great way to change it up some, and I’m especially looking forward to an extension of this story moving forward.
Enjoy the hits!
Last week has everything you need and then some if online action is what you crave. Check it out and support the channels therein and once more, if you or someone you know has something equally terrific to share in the world of online action, stunts and filmmaking and you would like for us to host it in our weekly Hit List, hit us up at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!
From there, Stanton Chong – by way of this weekend’s festivities at the Film Fu Fight Festival – makes his return to the Hit List this week representing Eunoia Creations with a ‘Game‘ of his own and with none other than stunt player Sean Kohnke beating up a LOT of Canadians…and all for a good cause!
Needless to say, I have somewhat returned to normalcy and, preferably, in kickass fashion with The Hit List. Actor, stuntman and stunt coordinator John Kreng lights things up this week with an illustrious new work reel chock-filled with stunt action and interview segments he’s done over the years with the likes of Cynthia Rothrock, Benny “The Jet” Urquidez and Keith Vitali. Rounding out the Hit List are reels by Jade Dregorius, Bruce Concepcion, Ariel Lee, Connor Dunn, Malin Kirjonen, Simon Potter, Rosslyn Luke, Gaetan Geloen, Natasha Paul, Noah Schultz, Alli Dunn, Narayana Cabral, Katie O’Donovan and all-around stuntmascot, Zoltan Berencsi.
In the sprit of keeping up with independent action, at least four new test fights are now available for viewing in the embeds below. As always, feel free to subscribe to their respective channels!
The first one comes from Bryan Sloyer, an actor and stuntman who I’ve been covering for about a year now. He’s gotten a little sharper with the camera and his editing ever since, and it also helps that he’s getting a bit more creative in the process. His latest is called Shadow Fighter, with actress and stuntwoman Amy Sturdivant in a performance that illustrates the psyche of a fighter in training. Stunt player Jerry Quill plays her shadow, and its pretty slick!
The next one comes from indie auteur Emmanuel Manzanares – someone who I’ve covered in articles aplenty in the past few years, mingling with who’s who in the stunt industry between his own team, LBP Stunts Chicago, and others from around U.S. and Canada. This past week saw the unveiling of his latest gem featuring performances by Gui DaSilva and Natalie Padilla, based on a DaSilva‘s own concept. It’s got the usual exhilirating action, and maybe a little comedy…well, if only for the fact that having to brawl with a chick who breaks into my home to try and kill me would be a just a bit stressful (personally I’d rather have breakfast in bed). Check it out!
Up next is the newest from a couple of cool folks in Canada who I’ve covered a few times, and this one is a bit more celebratory. It features Eclipse Stunts’ own Alex Chung and stuntwoman Wei-Hsin Lee, just off of recovering from a knee injury and subsequent surgery earlier this year. The first short I shared with Lee was last year’s sequel short, Hallowed 2 by Eclipse Stunts. She’s fun to watch and even more fun to see Chung doing his thing, and he’s someone you definitely want to keep an eye out for, and his upcoming sequel to this little jewel should serve as an awesome reason why. Other than that, let’s watch these two crazy kids go at it!
Last but not least, indie filmmaker Jeff Centauri‘s latest, Pinoy Rivals, is one of a many test fights and shorts he’s been working on while working the film scene in the Philippines. The new video features performances by Eulver Presto and Evangelista Noe, both talented screenfighters and up-and-comers who deserve a shot, and I certainly hope to see these guys prosper in the months and years ahead; As a noteworthy mention, Centauri just finished working on actor Robin Padilla’s upcoming period actioner, Bonifacio: The First President, which is expected to be completed in time for the Metro Manila Film Festival, so keep your eyes peeled on that. Otherwise, enjoy the clip!
It’s not a formula all indie filmmakers use, but it does prove to be a useful tool for developing rudimentary skills needed when trying to understand how to shoot action and what techniques to include in your choreography. It’s why guys filmmakers like Hung and Chan became the trendsetters they still are, and if you’re considering stepping into the fray with your own vision for action, you’d best do your homework, especially if you want me to write a good review. *wink*
Shawn Bernal: To make it plain and simple, I have always loved martial arts. To perform martial arts stunts on screen was an unrealistic dream of mine to my family in a conservative Filipino household. So it was all about education, career, and money. After finishing school and working in an office as a career, I made my family happy by achieving that. Now that that’s done, I felt it was time to make myself happy by doing what I loved doing.
H/T: Emmanuel Manzanares
From L to R (background): Tony Vittorioso, Alexander Hashioka and Nate Hitpas take direction from Emmanuel Manzanares (center/front)
Going into the weekend, we have a outstanding amalgam of talent that once more sees LBP Stunt Chicago’s own Emmanuel Manzanares back behind the camera for his latest skit, Karate Bros. vs. The World. This one is one of the slightly more spectacular ones with a little bit of VFX near the end, which is different from a lot of the short test fights we see from this group. Not to mention tricking impressario Micah Karns does a neat little stunt that was edited just nicely in the second half to give the fight that extra edge.
Fellow LBP members Alexander Hashioka and Nate Hitpas, with fellow tricker and martial artist Tony Vittorioso also perform.
You must be logged in to post a comment.