james couche

LOST PHOENIX: James Couche’s Indie Action Hit Gets A Gameboy Redux This Friday

I’d been following James Couche for a while and I never would have guessed he would be the one to have me doing video game coverage on this website, but…here we are. The man done went and announced an adaptation of his latest independent action thriller, Lost Phoenix. Couche created the game in association with GB Studio creator Elvies and musician Matt Hein. “I came of age at the turn of the millennium,” Couche says, “and the Gameboy Color played an outsized role in that part of my life. I received one as a birthday gift just a few months before I joined the Air Force, and it became my travel companion as I left home and journeyed into the great unknown.” Couche wrote and directed the original movie in a span of several years following the pandemic. Actor Wan DraL stars in the film as an amnesiac in the […]

LOST PHOENIX: Check Out The Official Trailer For James Couche’s New Indie Espionage Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

Writer/director James Couche is still in post-production on his independently-made feature debut, Lost Phoenix. The action adventure thriller, starring Wan DraL, Eliza Kelley, and David Norton, was filmed during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and hails from Couche’s longstanding independent film banner, Gunsavior Pictures. Set against the backdrop of a major social justice protest gone awry, DraL plays “Joe”, a runaway amnesiac who finds himself dodging ICE agents, heavily armed insurgents and a snipers from the distance as he fights to pursue tips and clues that could bring him closer to remembering his identity. Couche has since unveiled a trailer as of early last year which you can view here. In the meantime, take an extensive new first look at the independently-produced actioner in the official trailer below.

LOST PHOENIX: James Couche’s New Indie Espionage Thriller Takes Off With An Official Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

About a year and some change since we initially brought word of filmmaker James Couche’s feature directing debut, Lost Phoenix, the film is now finally en route and is signaling folks with an official trailer this week which you can check out above. The film marks a debut role for actor and YouTuber Wan DraL, from a script by Couche who also has a hand in the film’s action sequences. Couche previously circulated a short duration proof pitch to showcase to virtual markets last year as he prepared to roll cameras for the remainder of the film’s production. It centers on an amnesiac who awakens during the 2020 pandemic, forced to hit the ground running in a desperate search for his true identity while dodging ICE officials, heavily armed extremists, and a mysterious sniper watching from a distance. Lost Phoenix marks a new milestone for Couche who also produced the […]

LOST PHOENIX Teaser Introduces A Look At James Couche’s Indie Action Feature Debut

Lee B. Golden III

Independent filmmaker James Couche is moving forward with efforts to bring his feature debut, Lost Phoenix, full circle in the new year. It was last month when we showcased the first major stills of the project, building a story off the backdrop of 2020 through a palpable lens and vision with a touch of escapist thrills, and you can check those out here. As for all else, read on: An amnesiac (Wan DraL) awakens from a coma in the summer of 2020 with no memory of his past and no proof of his identity. The only world he knows is one of pandemic and social unrest. He desperately searches for his true identity all the while dodging the virus and ICE detention. The situation goes from bad to worse in his search for the truth, with every revelation putting him in more and more danger. He soon finds himself on […]

LOST PHOENIX: Exclusive New Stills For James Couche’s New Independent Proof Of Concept Thriller Ahead Of Full Feature By 2021

Lee B. Golden III

It’s been several years since some of our readers got to acquaint themselves with contributor James Couche’s ramblings on this website. Fact is, when he’s not publishing here or focused on other projects or important matters, he’s at the helm for his own independent film endeavors as he’s been for the better part of the last fifteen years since serving in the U.S. Air Force a few years earlier. Alas, this now brings us to a round of exclusive stills just above from his latest ambitious Gunsavior Pictures indie banner milestone, Lost Phoenix, starring newcomers, actor Wan DraL (stylized as so), actress Pree Parikh and actor Justin Meyer. Couche officially wrapped principle photography on Monday for a key proof of concept presentation to showcase at film festivals going forward, with plans to resume in Spring 2021 to complete the full feature. Penned and produced by Couche, Lost Phoenix centers on […]

THE HIT LIST: July 23, 2018

Lee B. Golden III

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! And so it goes with another round of reels and demos from some of today’s top and emerging stunt talents. Megan Hui out in Canada leads off followed of by reels from Sam Symons, Andre Da Silva, Julie Elizabeth, Troy Faruk, Kawui Joa, Bethel Lindsey, Anthony Giovanni Elias, Deineka Pavlo, Jannelle Beaudry, Jennifer Li, Johnathan Henry, Jason Truong, Chelsea Goldsmith, April Taft, Branden Arnold, Keanu Lam and Caitlyn Grace, with reels courtesy of Reuben Langdon and over in Denmark with Joon Poore’s JP Stunts. Time for just a few promo vids and the first comes from James Couche who recently kicked off a new Indiegogo campaign to provide funds for his next project, Fallen Blade, which you […]

FALLEN BLADE: Help Crowdfund James Couche’s New Arthouse-Style Assassin Indie Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

Setting out to cover independent action cinema eventually brought me in the throes of then film duo, Dylan Hintz and James Couche. That was about three or four years ago and both have since gone their individual ways with Hintz currently traveling whilst overseeing his own stunt and training facility in Washington, D.C.. The latter, following his service in our military, still continues to make his own projects with well over a decade into the craft of keeping authentic, genuine action cinema alive. This time however, things are a lot more different with Couche now looking to pivot from his usual short-duration projects to developing and actually shooting a feature length film now in the form of arthouse-style assassin thriller, Fallen Blade. Fallen Blade is an art-house action anthology with an innovative approach to storytelling and blistering action sequences. It’s a traditional assassin revenge tale shown through the eyes of […]

THE HIT LIST: June 11, 2018

Lee B. Golden III

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 […]

THE HIT LIST: June 26, 2017

Lee B. Golden III

Well guys, my hiatus was a brief but fair one. It was a necessary breather to help recoup from the workload and best part about all this is that people are still creating! So yeah, that’s a nice thing to come back to. That’s what The Hit List is for and I’ve found (and have also been sent) some GREAT stuff to share this week. It’s also a lot to unpack so without further ado, the stunt reels are up first as always and we begin with Amy Sturdivant‘s most recent Vimeo upload. I meant to share hers before going on break but YouTube parameters were a factor and Vimeo was the only option left. So, better late than never, and with a demo reel as substantive as this being all the more reason worth sharing. Following that is a playlist ripe with awesome stunt and action demos by Francis […]

THE HIT LIST: November 14, 2016

Lee B. Golden III

Things didn’t turn out too well for me over the weekend during the afterevents of the UASE in New York City on Saturday evening. Opportunities got cut short which pretty much undid any writing I would have liked to do, though it wasn’t a huge waste as I got to shake hands with one of the Expo’s attendees, stuntman Donald Tucker, which you can read about here. A minor, albeit fun memory to take with me into the years’ end wherein there will hopefully be more to discuss on the stunt and shortfilm end of things for business as usual here at Film Combat Syndicate, and with none other than The Hit List to help pick up the pace on some of the internet’s best, action packed stunt profiles, shortfilms and various projects by creative netizens alike. Revving things up for our stunt and training demo reel playlist is filmmaker […]

THE HIT LIST – July 11, 2016

Lee B. Golden III

Well, this week’s Hit List comes at an opportune moment with several gems worth sharing on top of this week’s fully-loaded stunt reels. I might take a break next week (or not), but in case I decide to, I’ve made sure to load up on quite a bit of material. In the meantime, let’s make this a worthwhile Hit List to enjoy and for this, we get a great new playlist full of stunt and action demo reels by great guys and gals like Shawn Bernal and Luci Romberg. Following that are videos by Isky Fay, Lloyd Pitts, Jake Osborn, Andrew DiBartolomeo, Andrew J. Neis, Monica Aleman, Stephen A. Davis, Kiril Kostadinov, Dennis Lafond and Bobby Holland Hanton. The last video in the playlist comes courtesy of someone whose passion for martial arts in sport and on film run as deep as the cuts and bruises stunt performers endure to create and entertain. […]

Action Throwback: THE BIG HIT (1998)

TriStar Pictures Once upon a time, Hong Kong and Hollywood were the best of friends… HK was the poor but spunky upstart and Hollywood was the rich, aloof asshole who’d taken a shine to its charms. For about half a decade, the two would collaborate in ways that would change the action genre forever. In the early days, this meant trying to bolt Hong Kong action scenes onto standard, low-brow Hollywood action tropes; the results may not have been earth-shattering, but damn were they entertaining… And The Big Hit may have been one of the best (and strangest) of the bunch. The Big Hit came at the perfect time in my life; I was 16 years old and had recently discovered the charms of Hong Kong action through films like Rumble In The Bronx and Face/Off. By the time the film hit theaters in 1998, the name John Woo was […]

‘HOURS’ ROLLING: An Interview With ADMIRAL Director Roel Reine

The name, Roel Reine, appeared on my radar about seven years ago when I stumbled onto a review of the recently released The Marine 2. The only thing that surprised me more than someone feeling the need to make a sequel to The Marine (there are now 3 sequels!) was that the review was actually positive; possibly even more positive than reviews of the first film. A lot of credit was heaped onto the film’s director, who had also directed a surprisingly decent Steven Seagal DTV actioner, Pistol Whipped. Over the years, Roel’s name would come up regularly, often in conjunction with a DTV sequel that was leagues better than it had any right to be: Death Race 2 and 3, Scorpion King 3 and 4, The Man with the Iron Fists 2, etc. When I found out he would be directing a sequel to the John Woo cult classic, […]

CLOSE RANGE LENSING: A Word With Filmmaker Isaac Florentine

Editor’s Note: It’s been a big year for news and coverage while 2016 certainly awaits its fair share of the same. That said, I couldn’t be more thankful to have my good friend James Couche on board as contributor to Film Combat Syndicate. Apart from sharing several opinion pieces earlier this year next to his own busy schedule, he’s now helping tackle interviews and with several names in mind, his first now brings the good company of director Isaac Florentine in the wake of his newest film, Close Range. Florentine is a fan favorite for many reasons – and the most obvious being he’s one of the few directors next to Steve Wang, Lucas Lowe and a handful of others in the last several decades who’ve aided in translating stylish action sequences for Western audiences, particularly those with an affinity for martial arts action cinema. It’s been Florentine’s specialty for […]

Help Kickstart Michael Neal's New Action-Packed Webseries, SWORDS OF INSURGENCY!

Lee B. Golden III

It’s always welcoming to see original content stake its claim in the eyes of the film viewing world. As tough as it is to sustain, however, opportunities for things like this most certainly advantageous, and so director Michael Neal is now ready to heed the call with crowdfunding at his disposal for the hopeful support of his newest webseries, Swords Of Insurgency. There’s no doubt that this one assures quality in its inspired vision between production values and cast performances. I had the opportunity to screen the pilot episode myself awhile back and observe lead actress Rebecca Hausman in the lead role and was very impressed with what I saw in an episode full of drama, intensity and phsyicality worthy of capturing on camera with great fight action put together by indie action design team, DC Stunt Coalition, led by oft-contributor to Film Combat Syndicate, fight choreographer James Couche. The […]