indie action
THE HIT LIST – July 4, 2016
All I’ll say is to click here to get a glimpse of how a part of my weekend went. Needless to say, it was fantastic and I’m glad to share it with you all, and I certainly hope to have more moments like it with even more people within my purview.
For now, It’s Monday, and that means it’s time for The Hit List, and kicking things off is, by far, one of the best and most impressive tricking reels you’ll see, here and now from Westminister-based martial artist and stuntman, Martial Club member Brian Le who has been very busy in the past few years building his prolife as a bodybuilder. And so, while not all trickers can perform these feats with the same hefty frame, it’s thrilling to know there are a few who have the caliber to do so, and Le’s reel is a proven hit among viewers alike. Following that is a new reel from actress Jennifer Linch who has also catapulted into her year for the development of several films, a few of which includes Flowers Of The Night, and Violet, the latter which has since launched a Facebook fan page you can subscribe to here.
Rounding out the playlist are stunt, parkour and action reels by Sydney Olson, Brandon Shaw, Tony Vo, Mark Chin, Jesse Turner, Aaron Jones Beck, Michael Matthews, Sam Durani, and actor, stuntman, choreographer and co-star of director Frank Figueroa’s Room 237, Anthony Giovanni Elias.
Moving on a bit, we now have a few promotional gems to share and first up comes courtesy of Vimeo a la Indiegogo where film festival programmer and filmmaker Shelagh Rowan-Legg is currently working toward her second short film, now in the form of action comedy, Flow. Inspired by the directorial visions of folks like Gareth Evans, Lexi Alexander and Joss Whedon, the project centers on a group of women soldiers amid a war already in progress while they ultimately end up fighting each other over bodily functions that are pretty hard to avoid (and we can rule out farting since Swiss Army Man already covered that).
Check out the Indiegogo campaign page with a month left to get your dollars in and help see this interesting little concept bloom into something we can escape into and enjoy! (H/T: ScreenAnarchy)
The YouTube playlist just beneath contains two trailers for upcoming projects, including Envizion Films’s first of two vigilante action horror concepts, Santos, and the new trailer for Victory Magic Films’s latest long-awaited shortfilm festival favorite, Warriors, which you can read more about in Joey Min’s latest review ahead of its July 10 release.
Now it’s off to the action and here we start things up a bit for the Marvel fans, specifically with those who share an affinity for X-Men character Psylocke in the wake of Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse. Actress and martial artist Janice Hung has her own take this week which you can check out below with director Louise Viola at the helm.
Rounding out the playlist is another entry from the gang at Orlando-based Distinctive Light Entertainment for their dramatic Self-Defense series – an ample title to give room for some great cinematic fight material, an exhilarating practice piece by lensman and action choreographer Tanay Genco Ulgen with Nilo Ghajar-Williams and Iesha Auyeung with a special appearance by Ulgen’s fellow Reel Deal Action-man, Cha-Lee Yoon, and Jeff Centauri‘s new fan-inspired action short with villain, Crossbones.
And last and far from least is another hit action short I’m ressurecting. It’s a bit recent and it probably won’t be the last time I’m sharing it as it mostly pertains to my awesome Saturday evening this past weekend with some friends, along with actor David Sakurai. He stars in Shaky Gonzalez’s 2015 hit revenge action short, Echoes Of A Ronin, a story told through the perspective of a young girl whose father sets out to redeem his father’s legacy and avenge his wife at the hands of his greedy brother.
The project is currently in good hands as it awaits further development on possible future prospects and with any luck, we’ll be seeing more of Sakurai wielding some badass sword action in the months and years ahead. If this is your first time viewing it and if you love thrilling martial arts action, Echoes Of A Ronin will suit you nicely.
Check out last week’s entries and support all the channels, and if you’ve got something for us that you think deserves a place in our weekly Hit List, hit us up at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!
[UPDATED] THE HIT LIST – April 4, 2016
The description states this won’t be their last collaboration and for what it’s worth, I’m counting on it. I’ve been writing about these guys for close to three years now and they have yet to let their audience down. Enjoy!
THE HIT LIST – March 21, 2016
The last entry is a teaser clip from Jyo Carolino’s upcoming indie action short, I Am Spartan with a full fight scene that initally premiered at MidSouthCon in Tennessee last week. The shortfilm, in whole will premiere on April 27, starring Carolino as a traumatized soldier forced to fight a new war at home in order to redeem himself. Jai Tanghal, and Drew Russom are also featured in the clip.
THE INNER CIRCLE: A Word With HUNT FOR HIROSHI Director Sam Gosper
And at the center of all this is Team 9 Lives who I’ve recently discovered for myself online following its lengthy history on YouTube where they’ve grown and flourished little by little in shortfilm, stage performance and stuntwork. They’re a team dedicated to their craft and that’s one of the most important things anyone could ask for when venturing into a project as ambitious as Circle Of Ninja, and with none other than Gosper at the helm, and I managed to have an email conversation in the last several weeks in order to gain further insight on his efforts, the shortfilm and its current trajectory.
THE HIT LIST – March 7, 2016
Hey guys! Guess what? I’m currently in the middle of finishing FIVE interviews of which I recently posted one! This and obviously I ended up posting some more news bits that needed sharing while trying to find room to breathe in between my workloads on the site and in my life, generally, but I still managed to squeeze in some extra time to scavenge the web for worthy Hit List material, and so it is!
THE MAN FROM DEATH LIVES: An Interview With Actor Eric R. Lim
That said, it was back in 2013 that netizens caught wind of actor Eric R. Lim‘s performance in The Forge, a work of spiritual magnitude in the essence of epic good vs. evil storytelling with a message. The shortfilm was a very personal one for Lim and its director Stephen Reedy who I have actually been trying to follow since I became a fan of his work with the MTV award-winning kung fu comedy from The Stunt People, Undercut, which is still a fresh and fantastic piece of work to this day.
Call To Action: Stunt Industry To Rally In Beverly Hills For An Oscar Category On Wednesday
Good stories and good acting are key to making any film or TV show notable and watchable. The same goes for action movies, and in that respect, even greater action and stunt work is what’s required to sell an action product. Without it, most of our habits wouldn’t exist today.
THE HIT LIST – February 22, 2016
This week’s Hit List is going to have a few amazing updates from previous posts. Hopefully you’ve been keeping up, but I’ll gladly give a few refreshers.
For now, if you’ve been with me before, you already know how this goes. Ten new select stunt and training reels are here for your viewing pleasure courtesy of Katie Kramer, Michael Lehr, Marina Yordanova, Blake Lee Roach, Jessica Erin Bennett, Liam Day, Dale Girard, Kai Ferris, Alejandro Gil and Ian Van Temperly.
Onto some crazy new promotional bits, and up first are a few updates with a neat little exclusive pictoral courtesy of filmmaker Logan Cross. The photos are locations that will be used come this May when production finally commences for the new feature-length superhero action adventure, Nightshadow.
If you’re not too familiar with its roots, you can click here to learn more about the project which initially launched via Kickstarter which successfully managed to achieve iys crowdfunding goals for specific services to be rendered (i.e, costumes, prop creation for the performers, etc.). Pre-production is currently underway with an official website now live and running, and Cross is allowing Film Combat Syndicate to share some exclusive recent behind-the-scenes photos from location scouting in East Texas which you can view below.
View post on imgur.com
Next up is a poster for a project that you’ll be sure to take note of in the coming months. Thanks to filmmaking duo Adam Davis and Will Corona Pilgrim, the new shortfilm, No Touching is well on its way after filming last year following a successful Kickstarter campaign in late 2014. Action actresses Zoë Bell and Heidi Moneymaker are our chosen few who decide to take matters into their own hands when they learn of women being assaulted in a shady haunted house attraction.
It’ll be awhile before we see some more from this lot, but the artwork should lend you quite the eyeful until then.
As for trailers, the first one is a doozy if you’re a Lara Croft fan like filmmaker Aurélien Sallé who launched a KissKissBankBank crowdfunder in 2013 to help his own shortfilm become a reality. That reality now comes in the form of actress and cosplayer Tiphaine Vaudable’s starring role in the new fan film, Tomb Raider: Reborn with action sequences by Kefi Abrikh who defintely knows his way around fight scenes.
The second comes courtesy of independent filmmaker Cullen Cook whose acquaintance I had the pleasure of making late last year among several at Applebees in Times Square, New York City where they were attending the Urban Action Showcase & Expo at the neighboring AMC Empire 25 theatre. There, he premiered his latest shortfilm, The Exit Wound, centered on a boxer forced to come to terms with his past amid a culmination of personal and professional problems.
Having won Best Action Sequence at the UASE, the project is finally on par to release online on March 23. Cook himself stars along with actress DeShawna Phillips and co-stars Rising Tiger Films’s own Leroy Nguyen and Edmond Shum who designed the action.
Watch both trailers below!
And now for the fights and there are quite several of them. For this, we begin with an always warm welcome for Eric Nguyen, here and now with Everlast, the 14th entry of his Fighting Journey series and stunt woman Molly McIntyre returning for a second round. Next up is a 2-for-1 special from Emmanuel Manzanares with performances by Suzuki Kimmy, Michael Lehr, Micah Karns and Tony Vittorioso, followed by two fencing pieces – one from French indie action favorite Godefroy Ryckewaert, and the other from Jeff Centauri with a Star Wars fan film of his own. The latter three include an action comedy bit led by Taylor Tai from Eunoia Creations as he battles YouTube Comments In Real Life, another from a fun group of stunties in Saudi Arabia called Stunt Guys Team titled Thieves, and the latter from filmmaker Vlad Rimburg returning with another week of fine, hearty action for Throwdown, led by Antal Kalik!
Getting right down to the wire here are a fine group of shortfilms and they’re all well worth the audience. First up is titled Captured courtesy of the A/M Show channel, followed by award-winning actor Mads Mikkelssen in his third shortfilm stint with Danish interior design company BoConcept titled The Fight!
Third in line introduces actor and dancer Daniel “Cloud” Campos to the Film Combat Syndicate Hit List, now sharing directorial duties with Spencer Susser for the imaginative TropFest 24 award-winning feat of music and action, Shiny. From there, we acquaint ourselves once more with Joseph Le who clearly takes his cues from Hong Kong comedy in his own three-way pizza free-for-all, The Last Slice, before getting into some bounty huntin’ trouble in Wadi Jones’s new action comedy short, Bounty, and an epic new fan short from the folks over at Martial Club attributed to Yuen Woo-Ping’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword Of Destiny.
The final piece in the playlist is 23-minute ode to action and suspense from partnering Canucks Kyle Wong and Joshua Zacharias for the new thriller, Vendetta. Wong himself has a knack for writing some pretty interesting scripts that introduce really darkly-toned characters and so his vision here seems fitting. There are several kinks throughout the film between audio as well as some of the action, but I was instantly sold on the trailer so I’m compelled to share it regardless and I think you’ll enjoy it for just the overall performances and story in general.
Enjoy the playlist!
Take heed of these channels, subscribe and head over here for last week’s entries if you missed them. And, be advised – we love sharing new and awesome shorts as jam-packed with action and pure talent, so if you have a stunt reel or a project you would like added here, feel free to contact us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!