THE HIT LIST: March 18, 2019
I’m inclined to blame Google for why this week’s installment of The Hit List almost didn’t happen seeing as how they’ve been having some serious YouTube issues in the last few weeks. Rocky roads this weekend. Ugh…
k dynamique
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 with Kamen Ramen Studios off and promoting their June 7 online Tokusatsu short, Homemade Hero G starring Gee “Lil’ Bomb” Jay, and actor and filmmaker Sam Puefua’s latest offering to neon-lit female-centric revenge thrills with the Oniros Film Fest-selected Mamba starring Sonalii Castillo.
Third in the playlist is a teaser for a television/webseries proof of concept that garnered my interest for a few weeks before I heard back from its star, actor and martial artist Seydina Balde. Protection Fantome is the name with Seydina leading the story of an officer whose elite witness protection agency out for retribution against a powerful criminal organization when he fails for the first time.
Last and WAY FAR from least is the official trailer for The Division, a short-form proof of concept making it’s way to exclusive screenings in London this summer. It’s the latest brainchild of film and fighting duo, actors Jean-Paul Ly and Law Plancel and you are more than welcome to read all about the details by clicking here as well.
Following that are some pictorals straight from Instagram, firstly with a raft of on-set production stills from Bobby Nickels’ latest piece of work, Flux Action. This was a project that Bobby himself launched crowdfunding for last summer and a year later, this little independent feat is nearing the finish line before going into post-production.
Below is at least one still of several you can now catch at Instagram, while the second photo just beneath hails from actress Kerry Lacy who is currently on the way with a second chapter to follow up Stacey Maltin’s thrilling character study, Viola, which brings us to this week’s action treats from around the web and thus, we begin with the aforementioned inaugural shortfilm thriller that got some festival attention in the past year or so before being quietly released online. Stuntman Paul Varrachi who coordinates the calamity in the second half, plays opposite Kerry in a tale that delves into the dark confessionals of a woman who, in a word or more, is, well… pretty sick of everyone’s shit. Paul plays a fugitive rapist on the loose and as narratives like these usually go, it doesn’t end well for one of these two.
Bobby Nickels in FLUX ACTION
Kerry Lacy in VIOLA 2
Viola is currently prohibited from viewing on other sites, so click here to watch it in full. Beyond that, it’s off to the races this week for the playlist in tow and with plenty of fisticuffs to make the rounds courtesy of filmmaker, action actor and stuntman Marques Zaror with performances by Zaror himself along with Branden Arnold, Pat Chu, Rabon Hutcherson II, Darin Hicks, Mark Hudson, Cycerli Ash, Amber Lamarca and many, many more.
Zhanna Sattseva and PeiPei Alana Yuan keep the monentum going with a short interlude of their own followed by K Dynamique’s OTT proof of concept, G1NMAN KILL with music by Tom Konidas, Hymson Chan shepherds the action and comedy in Where’s A Cop When You Need One?, the almighty Bryan Sloyer contains his kill zone in Night Watch, Joseph Roark reaps what he sows in revenge short, Unforgiven with the aforementioned Branden Arnold, Tolga Degirmen with a small band of players led by Kai Fung Rieck for action concept, Slice And Shoot and Anton Simpson-Tidy kills ’em all in Ashley Beck’s anime-inspired Afro Samurai: Vexed.
Second to last is the amazing jidaigeki shortfilm opus, Sword Of The Dead whose director, Stephen Vitale was recently the subject of an interview you can also now catch here. Last and far from least is the inaugural outing of Jeremy Weiss’ thrilling new short, The Teacher, filmed at the vast and newly-opened Wanda Film Studios in China and starring Sarah Chang forced to whip out her syllabus of fists and fury to lay the past to rest one last time.
This is a really fun playlist if you ask me. Enjoy it all!
L to R (top): Zhanna Sattsaeva, Kai Fung Rieck, Cycerli Ash, Anton Simpson-Tidy, PeiPei Alena Yuan
L to R (bottom) Gee “Lil’ Bomb” Jay, Robert Linden, Amber Lamarca, Bryan Sloyer, Branden Arnold
If you missed the Hit List from two weeks ago, catch it here. Also, subscribe to these creators and their pages online and SHARE the Hit List with friends and, as always, if you or someone you know performs or creates splendid action and stunts on film and you think it deserves a place in our Hit List, hit us up at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com and we’ll be pleased to vet your goods accordingly!
THE HIT LIST: May 15, 2017
I had a nice little weekend. Still worked but managed to relax some in between as well as put a new forthcoming interview together which will go up very soon.
In the meantime, we have other matters to tend to turning to this week’s installment of The Hit List! Kicking off our first playlist is a new team reel by K Dynamique, based in Canada and, at current, an opportunity to sample great work done by a fine group of folks who, due to some grave, unfortunate circumstances, are now asking for your help. Click here to learn more, and SHARE, if anything.
Rounding out the stunt reel playlist for this week are Lunar Stunts’s own Mikey Arce and Irvin Nguyen, and stunt players James Hutchison, Jeff Budner, Mike Li, Meghan Koch, Serena Ly, Marc Padró and Mike Snow.
Promotional items are light this week but well worth it with the latest official poster reveal for Trent Dickens’s upcoming shortfilm, Panda, chronicling a masked man’s psychedelic night of debauchery, chaos and violence. More trailer footage is coming but feel free to sample an earlier gem just beneath the poster.
Onto the fights and films for this week and there are definitely a few favorites of my own here.
First up is a nifty little action experiment by Lloyd Pitts with performances by Jordan Salmon and Leon Ngo in Edamame, followed by Ken Dinh‘s latest action-packed commercial directing gig with fellow Icybolt Pictures cohort, actor and martial artist Peter Pham.
Following that is a quick close quarters group test fight led by Adam Brashaw, Tanay Genco Ulgen with a spectacular practice fight of his own with Tally Rodin and Nilo Ghajar-Williams and Zac Oyama who apparently has a story to fight his way through over at College Humor regarding his sleep deprivation, with action direction by John Kreng.
Filmmaker Godefroy Ryckewaert is next in the playlist with a delightful comedic short with performances by Elise Anderson Scotto and Genévieve Doang titled Strange Encounters, centered on two women discussing two very different versions of the same thing. The project is a clever spin-off from a previous shortfilm I shared last February and hopefully you’ve stuck around since then. If not, then, well I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to clue you in.
Next we have Jason Cavalier LeBeouf, Dark Knight and classic circumstantial victim in the latest pisstake against Zack Snyder in Jonathan Bedard’s Batman: Son Of Gotham. The action here is a plus for the comedy that ensues.. and just in time for Mothers’ Day too!
Czech Republic-based fencing and stunt troupe, Balestra, follows through with gory new action short, The Revenge. Actor and filmmaker Juan Bofill takes the podium thereafter with Christopher Llorca in Bofill’s newest action short, Tatakai, and I have to say this one has some of the best action beats I’ve seen in a Karate-oriented fight setting since Vlad Rimburg’s Osu and Osu 2, and Nagasaki Shunichi’s enthralling 2007 action period drama, Kuro Obi.
Winding down, we have actor and martial artist Hayden Lam who, while we await the hard-hitting action of Crows, grants a purely relatable, hilarious new action comedy piece with Marquis Williams in Phone Wars.
Last and farthest from the least is a great inspired fan film from director Jason Satterlund, and with all the knowledge in the world that any Star Wars fan film has to have a sense of cohesive intensity in ita narrative. He peppers it quite a bit in both action and dialogue with actor Aris Juson and actress Deborah Smith in Star Wars: The Force And The Fury, which actually came out last month but I finally found it via Twitter over at Live For Films, and I’m more than pleased to include it as an exciting finale in this week’s Hit List.
Hit PLAY and enjoy, folks!
Last week’s entries should be ample enough to fill you up some. Check it out and be sure to subscribe to the channels, and if you or someone you know has a terrific new shortfilm, action or stunt demo or project that needs promoting in our weekly Hit List, don’t hestitate to hit us up at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!
THE HIT LIST – September 26, 2016
Well, as much as I wanted my weekend to be an eventful one, I can’t say it was or I’d have more to discuss this week and share with you all. Hopefully the rest of the year will pan out much better, but it is still bustling in the world of stunts, action and independent content, and if you don’t believe me, well…
…you needn’t look further than this week’s installment of The Hit List for some of the latest action-packed demo reels, trailers and short-form action jewels to keep you in good company! For this, the latest round of stunt and training reels starts off with the newest action reel from former UFC prospect Cung Le whose longstanding career in film continues onward going into the new year, and you can learn a little more about it here. In the meantime, Le has an action reel now available on his YouTube channel with highlights including The Grandmaster, Bodyguards And Assassins, Dragon Eyes, and many more.
Rounding out the playlist stunt demo reels by PeiPei Alena Yuan, Keil Zepernick, Alesha Forche, Nik Pelekai, Kate Angus, Collin Hynes, Helen Steinway Bailey, and montage servings of epic parkour highlights by Alexandr Zhurkov and Ann Grjukach.
Making the promotional rounds this week are two teasers and the first comes courtesy of maverick martial arts action filmmaker Eric Nguyen who has made a killing for himself and fans online over at his indie banner, Lunar Stunts Action Cinema. He’s since taken a hiatus due to working responsibilities as of late, though it appears now that good fortune has taken a turn with Nguyen getting back into the director’s chair very soon for some more Lunar Stunts Action cinema content, further signified by a newly cut teaser for his long-running action experiment series, The Fighting Journey.
Following that is actress, stuntwoman, fight coordinator and filmmaker Cassie Lee Minick who has been a proud mention of the Hit List for a time or several in the last few years. Click here and watch her in a recent epic sci-fi action experiment from CristinaGianinni Films and you’ll see what I mean, while at any rate you would be wise to spot the latest trailer for Marvel Warfare from Fighting Liger Productions and Vagrant Films. Behind the lens is fellow stuntman Jawed El Berni, with Minnick joining a raft of stunt talent (a good portion of whom have been Hit List mentions as well) that includes Max Bojorquez, Lee Chesley, Joel Coryell, Brooks Crouse, Sergei Dmitriev, Yarett Harper, Justice Hedenberg, Duffy McManus, Tim Neff, Josh Rasile and Scott Rosen for what looks to be yet another spectacular shortfilm you can expect to be featured within the next few months or so.
Watch the trailers and subscribe!
Now it’s off to some amazing online fight action, and for this, we get things started with a quick “Firestorm” fight practice interlude from Lunar Stunts, followed b Reel Deal Action’s Tanay Genco Ulgen -currently playing the field in Canada with the local talent, including Keanu Lam and Dimitri Tsoy. Up thereafter are K Dynamique and their poolside antics with Brandon Joseph and Andy Le, Art School Dropouts with their latest nostalgia gaming nod in Punched Out with Joey Min and Gee “Lil Bomb” Jay, Rustic B.’s latest Tekken-themed episode of Cheat Code with action actor Mason Sharrow, Deviant Child Production‘s latest martial arts epic short, Horangi starring Orlando Cruz and director/choreographer Hector Soria, Force Storm Entertainment‘s own Noah Fleder with a rambunctious grouping of children cosplaying another epic battle over influence of The Force in Return Of The Kids, and Dragon Phoenix Entertainment returning once again with the nimble performances of Shaun Charney opposite the ever-talented and graceful PeiPei Alena Yuan once more.
Click the play button and let the hits roll!
Time to wrap this up with a small grouping of some great cinematic shortform content, starting with multi-faceted actress and director Kristine Gerolaga in one of several entries from competing artists of YOMYOMF Interpretations 2.0. The project in question, Hit Or Miss, lands Gerolaga in the role of a female boxer whose training session immerses her deep into an internal battle of wills while mourning the death of her mother.
Voting expires on October 6, 2016 at 11:59pm PST following its open three weeks ago, so enjoy the shortfilm and be sure to head to the page and make your choice among those selected for the top 15 semi-finals.
Next up is a project that took me by delightful surprise from director Derek Pueblo for his latest short, Queens Part IV: Girls Just Wanna Have Fight. Social Media personality IISuperwomanII (a.k.a. Lily Singh) stars alongside the screenfighting prowess of actress and stuntfighter Jade Chynoweth for a little comedic action endeavor about a day in the life of two girls doing girl stuff…including fighting off a small army of sinister men in black.
McAllisterAction pair Braxton & Michaela McAllister (Riot, You May Now Kill The Bride) are the minds behind the brutal and dynamic arsenal that Chynoweth whips out on full display. More epsiodes may come through support of the channel while this Part IV installment marks possibly the first of a series as Michaela informed me last week, so we’ll see, and I’ll definitely be one to keep an eye out until then.
Last and far from least is a project that has long been kept off radar in the years since its 2013 Action On Film Festival. For this, we turn to director Robert Yahnke, hopefully not too far from his own feature debut while we pan over to Sport Karate Hall of Famer, martial artist, actor and stuntman Jessen Noviello in the new action comedy, Blowback, which follows a spy whose relationship woes expose him to an illegal arms dealer who wants him dead.
Also starring are Megan Brotherton and Alexandra Bromstad with action sequences by Steve Lambert (Revenge Of The Ninja, Ninja III: The Domination, Blind Fury).
Press play and enjoy the hits!
The Hit List is a weekly periodical we at Film Combat Syndicate host every Monday evening. You’ll find more like it in the subsequent links like here and therein and discover all you may have missed in the world of stellar independent action and martial arts on film. Check it all out and support the creators on their channels, and for all intents and purposes, if you or someone you know is a creator and performer equally as skilled or better, and has content you think deserves a spot in The Hit List, hit us up at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!
You must be logged in to post a comment.