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!
indie action
THE HIT LIST: July 16, 2018
Managed to get a few things done this weekend including enjoying a few others screeners – one for a film that was supposed to be out this month but will be releasing this Fall instead and I’ll bring some news about that in the weeks ahead. Until then, it’s time for The Hit List and if you know what The Hit List is, then you know what you’re in for. For the newbies, by all means! Follow along and firstly enjoy this week’s playlist of rousing stunt performance and professional reels to whet the appetite, courtesy of actress Sarah Chang, Patrick Phan, Brandon Shaw, Wei Hsin Lee, Nick Fisher, Robert Bennett, Bronte Coluccio, Sean Chase, Curtis Braconnier, Melodie Veillard, Sam Akel, and as of this month, the Seattle’s International Stunt Institute’s own Alec Tillett! Promotional gems are few this week but look great thusfar with a few pics you can […]
THE HIT LIST: June 25, 2018
Well… the summer heat is setting in. If anyone needs me, I’ll be crowding the A.C. at home ?…Or at the movies. Preferably the latter. Top (L to R): Andrei Nazarenko, Michelle Jubilee Gonzalez, Branden Arnold, Kiera O’Connor, Veto Swarn Bottom (L to R): Charlit Decharkhom, Kwang Bin, Sherry Rene, Ari Loeb, Troy Butler Of course, things will heat up as usual with our weekly installment of the Hit List and thus, we begin as always with a round of stunning demo reels from some of today’s best and rising talents in stunt performance and cinematic action. Vinny O’Brien gets things started this week followed by Sherry Rene, Ari Loeb, J.D. Garcia, Niahlah Hope, Garreth Hadfield, Austin Durden, Michelle Jubilee Gonzalez, Lance Brazil, Nikkilette Wright, Christian Petersson, Takahashi Hiroshi, Margaryta Soldatova, Girvan “Switch” Bramble, a nostalgic lookback at the work of Felix and Lorenz Hideyoshi for YoungMasters, and the the […]
THE HIT LIST: June 4, 2018
My energy level was sputtering all weekend. I had some much needed fun though and got to decompress and meet some new and beautiful people. Happy start to my summer. L to R (top): Masami Kosaka, J.C. Leuyer, Sadiqua Bynum, Cyrus Leisy, Bobby Nickels L to R (bottom): Sonalii Castillo, Peter Syckelmoore, Seydina Balde, Frans Steyn, Sarah Chang I’m also where the independent action and stunts are as we commence with this week’s return of the Hit List after a period of catching up and a little more rest in between. We begin with the familiar name of Judit Szvia and I couldn’t be more proud to start her at the top of this week’s playlist of stunt and athetic reels followed by contributions from Ryan Robertson, Darin Hicks, Cyrus Leisy, Peter Syckelmoore, Sadqiua Bynum, Frans Steyn, Robert Linden, Lexter Santana and J.C. Leuyer. Promotional items are quite a handful […]
THE HIT LIST: May 7, 2018
I can’t say much about my weekend. Really it wasn’t one – lots of work to be done and little time for R&R, frankly. The anime catch-up with SAO: GGO and Fist Of The Blue Sky: Regenesis was nice though. From L to R (top): Jefferson Lewis III, Christos Dante, Hope LaVelle, Arman Ansari, Johnny Gao L to R (bottom): Michelle Jubilee Gonzalez, Donte Walker, Terence Julien, Kawui Joa, Megan Hui As always, I left some room for The Hit List and we begin with the essentials starting with a raft of stunt reels from today’s stunt talents beginning with the high-diving antics of Malin Kirjonen, the harpooning fight scene badassery of Peter Jang and Cobra Kai fall guy Noah Bain Garrett, followed by more stunt profusion with Anthony Rodriguez, Jackson Rosario, Kawui Joa, Mollie Wilson, Joseph Roark, Bryan Dodds, Mohammed J. Ali, Ted Alderman and stunt coordinator Tyler Hall. […]
ONCE A COWBOY, ALWAYS A RANGER: A Word With BUFFALO BOYS Star Yoshi Sudarso
As 2017 came to a close, the new year felt ripe in its approach with the number of projects – particularly coming out of Southeast Asia – that were slated to arrive at forthcoming dates. It all stems from the kind of residual energy and excitement that has been percolating since Gareth Huw Evans put an unknown in the spotlight with Iko Uwais in Merantau, just several years before an already world-scale famous Tony Jaa would segue into more flexible auspices of management ahead of Furious 7, among other regional entities such as in Singapore, India, the Philippines, Cambodia and the like. It’s not without its show of struggle though, given the well-documented hurdles faced by aspiring artists toward the action genre in most of these territories – a reminder that the renaissance we’re now seeing has been, a continues to be one that is long and hard fought for. […]
TAKING ACTION IN THE OUTBACK: Award-Winning Director Johnny Balazs On NIGHT SHIFT, Filmmaking, Fandom And Fortitude
The last few years have proven helpful in discovering talent out in Australia, and not without some serious internal effort for that matter on the part of its select residents. Characteristically, Australia is just one example out of many in the world in which a demographic of inspired, up-and-coming creatives work and do their best to thrive in their field of choice, which is film. In parallel, however, the land down under also has its share of setbacks – specifically pertaining to the business stimulus of producing local action films. Melbourne-based filmmaker Johnny Balazs is just one out of the pressing handful of talents working and shaping himself around a lens to change this. “The term independent action cinema doesn’t exist in Australia.” says Balazs. “I would often ask people name one action film that’s Australian that you remember and can recall in the last 5 years. Most say Fury […]
THE HIT LIST: April 9, 2018
Honestly, if it were up to me, I would have stayed in bed, Netflixing and sleeping this past weekend. (Sigh…) If only, right?… L to R (top): Glenn Somera, Geoffrey Boggs, Alex Marshall-Brown, Zak Self, Branden Arnold L to R (bottom): Megan Le, Darin Hemmer, Darin Hicks, Temujin Shirzada, Leandro Mayor Martinez At any rate, another week is upon us and once more, we’re back to highlighting some of today’s top and rising talent in stunts and action with another installment of the Hit List. Battle B-Boy co-star Megan Le tops this week’s playlist with a fitting track from Frankie Valli and the Four Season that had me dancing in my seat. Following that are reels from Eric C. Sun, Zak Self, Kai Fung Rieck, Eddie JY Lee, Andrew Long, Sarah Schulte, Andrew Nadanyi, Anna Yosin, Jim Ellason, Miyashiki Akio, Jonathan Yurco, Kellie Victoria Scarangello, Narayan Cabral, Sher Juraev, and […]
Indie Action PRIME!
The days of video stores are long behind us, as are the days of distributors throwing literally EVERYTHING at the booming DVD market. In those halcyon days, independent distributors were lining up to partner with (see: take advantage of) indie filmmakers and help chains like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video fill the gaps in their shelves between big Hollywood releases. For those of us brave enough to wade through this swamp of content, the occasional diamonds felt like a gift from god. For every 10 unmitigated disasters, there was a gem like Mean Guns or Extreme Heist to incentivize further exploration. Sadly those days are lost to time; a fading piece of nostalgia that older millennials will lament to future generations. But maybe those days aren’t totally lost. The torch of obscure video store treasures may have been passed to an unlikely new champion… Amazon Prime! From the beginning, Amazon Prime […]
PLANNING INTO ACTION: An Interview With Actor And Stuntman, Phong Giang
Click here and you’ll be able to see just how far back I began lending lip service to one of the most anticipated martial arts film titles at the time prior to its ensuing title, Plan B: Scheiss Auf Plan A (click here to read our review). That was in 2015 and it certainly feels like forever looking back as far as then in covering German film and stunt troupe, Reel Deal Action, as much as I have been. It’s brought me in close throes of the biggest and best in the stunt industry, including Can Aydin who has been with the team as early as around 2012; it was later that year when I finally launched the Facebook page for this blog prior to officially writing for it. Aydin leads the cast along with prolific actor and dancer Eugene “U-Gin” Boateng, and fellow Reel Deal Action members Yoon Cha-Lee […]
CREATIVE’S CREED: An Interview With Adam Brashaw
Having extensively covered Universal Pictures’s famed Fast franchise, this week’s latest bit of coverage has to be the closest I’ve come. It’s primarily attributed to the forthcoming live show which kicks off in London in January and obviously with a film saga so action packed, of course it’s going to need a crew of some very talented stunt performers to take to task the very feats attendees can expect. For this, it is with great pleasure to have been able to share an auspicious chat with Adam Brashaw, someone whose work thusfar in stunts, film and television have been all but impressive. He’s only appeared in The Hit List a few times having done three shortfilms (two of which I have seen), and you need only to see the results for yourself apart from his exceptional work reel just above. Brashaw is going nine years strong in his field with […]
THE HIT LIST: August 21, 2017
So…how was your weekend? I spent mine reviewing a few titles – one which apparently led people to think I was picking a fight with a martial arts expert who lives thousands of miles away from me, which is…STILL hilarious. Anyway, I also got to look at some great shortfilm items in the past week and I’ve gladly collated them for this week’s installment of the Hit List, kicking off with another round of awesome stunt reels and other cool film bits from around the web. Stuntwoman Ellette Craddock gets a spotlight twice over this week, beginning with her new stunt reel, followed by reels from Brady Jo Merriman, Josh Schmitt, Michael Hartwick and Beni Alexander with action actor and filmmaker Jarrod Crooks, stunt players Tom Caserto, Girvan Bramble and Anton Guryanov, and 3Run Ambassador, stuntman and traceur Bogdan Pascal trekking the terrain in Bilbao, Spain. Promotional bits are few […]
THE HIT LIST: August 7, 2017
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. As always, a nifty amalgam some of today’s top and talented stunt performers is how we start things and we begin with a major contribution a la Vimeo with Boyka: Undisputed co-star, actor and martial artist Brahim Achabbakhe. Malin Kirjonen takes the lead this week in our Youtube playlist just beneath with Nathan Barris following, as well as stunt players Daniel Stevens, Hayden Lam, Diandra Stoddard, Darren Holmquist, Mark Miscione, Tien Hoang, Kami Bruder, Maggie MacDonald, Jay Greene, Kyro Wavebourne, Yavuz Topuz, Darren Bailey (click here to view it), and Vlad Rimburg with a fantastic highlight reel showcasing the brutal action of Ali Abbas Zafar’s multi-award winning MMA thriller, Sultan! Promotional gems come to […]
THE HIT LIST: July 31, 2017
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 […]
THE HIT LIST: July 24, 2017
My weekend was exciting at the start. It was also kind of hilarious due to a rather odd exchange on Sunday involving trolls on my fanpage. Annoying and intolerable but…it comes with the territory. What can I say? Trolls are lame… Stunt players? Not so much, and once again we take another week to celebrate their genius and thrilling work in another installment of The Hit List packed with feats of stuntwork and independent action on film kicking things off with a Vimeo upload courtesy of Felix King. The playlist beneath rolls onward with reels by David “Dax” Bauer, Jessica Bennett, Kyle Potter, Jason Elwood Hanna, Robert Steven Brown, Reuben Maldonado, Daniel Hargrave, Jay R. Adams, Alex Skelly, Entony Ruscetta, Samantha Huffmann, Omid Zader, Chris Silcox, Adam Lavender, Troy “Smalls” Neault, Kaanchana Kerr, and Guiness World Record holding BAFTA winner and stunt pioneer, Vic Armstrong. There isn’t much as far as […]
THE HIT LIST: July 17, 2017
My weekend was a bit of a bummer…although it’s nothing compared to what others were going through in the world of stunts and entertainment as last week. For all intents and purposes here though, it’s worth celebrating the life and legacy of stuntman and New Orleans native, John Bernecker, who sadly lost his life on Friday. In honor of his memory, he kicks off this week’s installment of The Hit List with highlights from projects such as This Is The End, Goosebumps and Get Hard to name a few, followed by reels from some of today’s top and up-and-coming stunt professionals, including Bryan Sloyer, Rosslyn Luke, Michael Bekemeier, Bronin October, Brandon Ly, Gabriela Kostadinova, Doug Karr, Suo Liu and stunt coordinator T.J. White. At current, there’s nothing really in the way in terms of promotional materials. However, the latest shortfilm directoral outing from Christopher Zatta might be worth a nod as […]
THE HIT LIST: July 3, 2017
It sure sucked being sick this past week. It’s what slowed down a lot of content going into the weekend on top of work (yes, having to work while sick is a thing that exists. Call your Congressman and let’s end this atrocity! ?) Well, at least not right away. Thankfully I’m on better straits and this week’s Hit List is back and ripe with all you love and enjoy about this site and what and who we try to discover and keep up with. Heather Woods is one of those very people as we kick off this week’s playlist of stunt and demo reels followed by the performances of Austin Durden, David Russell Graham, Airon Armstrong, Kate Mah, David Lavallee Jr., Fernando Jay Huerto, Ai Ikeda, Gee Alexander, Alex McCaslin, Kate Cochran, Stephon Reynolds, freerunner Sydney Olson‘s most entry for Red Bull Art of Motion 2017, and a new […]
THE HIT LIST: May 8, 2017
Saturday was a day of much needed relaxation… I got about half of that while juggling other stuff including this week’s Hit List but I’m pleased to have this one ready as it includes at least one or two other projects I had been waiting for. As always, our weekly tribute to action cinema’s hardest working and innovative folks in the field begins with a crazy cool raft of stunt reels, starting with Tony McFarr just in time for the theatrical release of his most recent stunt credit, Guardians Of The Galaxy: Vol. 2. The playlist runs through with a deluge of stunt and training reels by Allen Quindiagan, Aimee Zannoni, Hymnson Chan, Geoffrey Boggs, Kai Ferris, Mason Sharrow, Lis LoCasio, Carl Fortin, Drew Dayz, Dani Medina, Dan Carter, Janelle Beaudry and Sergey Nosulenko. Enjoy! Kicking off the promotional end of things is a glimpse into a new mystery project from the good folks over […]
THE HIT LIST: April 24, 2017
Well, I spent most of my weekend relaxing as much as possible after covering what I could on Saturday. That includes my second interview with actor/producer/director Alexander Nevsky which you can check out here… …on top of covering this week’s picks and entries for the Hit List now online and ready to go with a stunt reel playlist that brings us Luis Vallardes, John Cihangir, Amanda Voll, Don Gough, Jonathan Nickerson, Kyle Glenn, Ellette Craddock, Hans Marrero and an updated new stunt reel by Patrick King. Rounding out thd playlist is actor and martial artist, the one and only Gary Daniels with a tribute reel from last month by Tony Coates! There isn’t much to tease this week except two items: First, we now have an image which you can view below courtesy of filmmaker Trent Dickens, hard at work with the current production of crowdfunded shortfilm, Panda – basically […]
THE HIT LIST: April 17, 2017
My not-weekend was indeed such. I did not one, not two, but three reviews, and frankly I’m surprised I even managed to get the Hit List done. So there, I’ve amazed myself whereas the following stunt performers and creatives below inducted into this week’s Hit List will do so tenfold. Alex Chansky dons his share of superheroics and thick skin in his latest action packed reel followed by Kate Petersen, Yavuz Topuz, Jessie Simpson and the incomparable Christopher Leps. Adair Moran gets a bit of height in for her newest reel next to that of the ‘Chemist’ himself, Jason Ng, with Nick Shuhan, weapons grade badasses Tien Hoang and Mike Moeller, Matt Shadden, Julia Maggio, Patrick King, Joshua Romeo, and stellar fight choreographer and all-around impressario Olivier Schneider rounding out the first, jam-packed stunt playlist, queued and ready to go! There’s only one item to promote in this segment and […]