If you at all enjoyed today’s entries, you can find plenty more by clicking here, and share the Hit List with friends as freely and liberally as you please. And, if you or someone you know has an equally smashing stunt or training demo, practice fight or even a project that needs either promoting or sharing, run it by us via email at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!
Welp, I made good use of my weekend with some great anime on top of work and a pair of reviews. Not much else really. Putting together the hit list was a bit weary since I couldn’t find anything in trailers or things of that nature.
L to R (top): Jade Xu, Brian Le, Cynthia Rothrock, Andy Le, Dana Rasmussen
L to R (bottom): Stefan Brysha, Sarah Purdum, Greg Poljacik, Lynn Jung, Jon Alagoa
However…there is still plenty to share in terms if content this week and thus, we have a fresh batch of stunt and demo reels to kick it all off courtesy of World Wushu Champion, actress and martial artist Jade Xu, followed by 3run’s Adam Brashaw, and stunt players Dana Rasmussen, Jackie Chan Stunt Team member Lee Huang, and Storm Freerun’s Lynn Jung with Greg Poljacik, Lana Katz, Matt Kennedy, Mallory Thompson, Stefan Brysha, Sarah Purdum, Jacob Hotovy, Sadiqua Bynum, John Jeffrey Arias and Heather Woods comprising the week’s stunt playlist.
Enjoy!
A lack of promotional bits can be a bit crippling. Here thankfully I have a little something to fill in the gap some, particularly for Cynthia Rothrock fans who might be keen on following her exploits on her official YouTube channel. She’s recently shared a small, albeit lengthy montage of classic action scenes from her career in Hong Kong action cinema with footage from Magic Crystal, Prince Of The Son, The Inspector Wears Skirts and more!
Fight scenery is where it’s at this week and we start with a small batch of CQC concepts led by Jay Kwon over at the Sloyerstunts channel, and German action wunderkind Mike Moeller doling out some sword practice gems while Rachel Star Withers trades blows with Jarvis Garvin in Seneca Jared Robinson’s The Pursuit and Daredrex Productions pits footwork and fightfare with Darren Holmquist and Spidey Turner. Soners Films’s Yakuza: Kiwami delivers the second of a twofer inspired by the popular Yakuza game from director and actor Jon Alagoa, Joseph Roark graces the screen with Chloe Gingold and dancer Johanna Seidel in The Ballerina and The Swordsman, Mickey Arce helms a tale of doomed romance in Pam from Lunar Stunts Action Cinema and Martial Club’s Le Brothers kick it old school in Dance Of The Drunken Mantis.
Last and far, FAR from least is a fantastic little jewel from stuntman and filmmaker Famisa Yusuf Elfajri with Ghaza Akbar as an ex-con out to get even against the men who framed him in Residivis. It’s subtitled as well so there will be plenty to comprehend per the narrative along with the impressive fight action to boot.
Once more, enjoy!
L to R (top): Mallory Thompson, Khai Thach, Lana Katz, Jacob Hotovy, Sadiqua Bynum
The Hit List will be back next week so if you have an equally awesome project or demo reel to share, link us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com, and don’t miss last week’s entries either!
Near topping off our initial playlist is an exciting shortfilm that I’ve actually been chasing since reporting on its crowdfunder since 2014. The new Zoë Bell/Heidi Monkeymaker headliner, No Touching, came out on the Crypt TV YouTube channel just in time for Halloween back in October after keeping folks in suspense and I couldn’t help but add this to this week’s Hit List finale, even if I am a few months late (And a much-deserved hat tip to Ms. Moneymaker for keeping me abreast of this lovely haunted house beat ’em up fest! ?)
I’m still in recovery mode and will likely be so for the next several days. I forgot that’s what happens when you have as much fun as I did for two nights in a row.
The past several days may have seen a slump of news. I admit, I kind of enjoyed it as I needed a bit of a breather. Best of all is I finally had a little time over the weekend to start watching Sense8 to see what the fuss is about and…
…I’ll be sure to give my feedback in a future post if I catch the writing bug by then. For now though, it’s time for this site to do what it does most prominently on Monday nights and with this week’s installment of the Hit List. Staff boss and Canadian alpha Catwoman Michelle C. Smith fires things up with her latest reel followed by a raft of stunt and training reels from some of today’s rising talents: Eugenia Guryleva, Caleb Spillyards, Anthony Javier, Jordan Davis, Tyson Arner, Meghan Whitfield (that makes two weeks in a row!), Dave Cutler, fellow FCSyndicate favorites Yadi Nieves and Irvin Nguyen, Into The Badlands familiars Nathan Barris and Morgan Benoit, and the latest reel by UK-based Movieworks Stunt & Fight Crew.
Currently this week is quiet on promotional material, so tentatively I’ll be changing it up a little bit with some sweet parkour action in an ultimate test of endurance. This one comes courtesy of Calen Chan who recently took to the Skyladder course at Heaven’s Gate alongside Tianman Mountain in China, racked with 999 steps jam-packed with momentum and adrenaline at the business end of a GoPro. In his mouth! He’s the only person thusfar to achieve this effort and he’s asking for fans and viewers for a share and we here are more than happy to oblige him. Cheers Calen!
Rounding out this week is a sick rack of test fight action beginning with David Lavallee Jr. opposite Matt Healy and Jose Pacheco, Mannie B.‘s latest get together with performers Lovel Johnson Jr. and Charlit Daechalkhom, Meghan Koch‘s own throwdown with Hamamura Yoko and guest performer Jordan Thoma, some cool new POV test fight action by Filip Ciprian Florian, Luca Malacrino with an experimental action gem inspired by one of 2017’s biggest hit movies (you’ll know when Le Castle Vania comes on) and Yavuz Topuz and Kyle Potter getting work done with Bryan Sloyer behind the lens.
John Cihangir keeps the pace going with something quite storyesque and hilarious per his recent college graduation in Graduation Hustle, followed by a re-upload from Dardrex Productions featuring swordwielders Darren Holmquist, Martin Chan and John Rickard, Sean Kohnke’s latest one-man army gangster tale, I’m Out Johnny (CLICK HERE to go behind the scenes and stay tuned for the sequel), Nicholas Ortiz’s own inspired take on Nintendo Switch game, Mr. Shifty from Deviant Children Productions, and Joseph Roark’s inspired thematic action drama short, Cain with John Tervanis.
That’s about it for this week. Be sure to check out last week’s entries and subscribe to the channels to show your support. Also, SHARE the Hit List with friends, and if you or someone you know has an equally amazing and impressive project that suits our niche and may be worthy of a spot in our weekly Hit List, hit us up at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!
The next installment of the Hit List is currently in production, we have also been ramping up promotion of filmmaker Eric Nguyen’s apparent efforts to build toward an epic shortfilm trilogy. For this, we recently highlit his 2015 comedy, Of Martial Arts And Men along with exclusive coverage featuring stills for the pending sequel, Of Martial Arts And Men: Enter The Dojang.
That project will go live publicly on Nguyen’s Lunar Stunts Action Cinema YouTube channel on April 25. In the meantime, those wishing to catch it sooner will be able to do when Film Combat Syndicate will proudly premiere the action comedy sequel for the April 24 edition of The Hit List which will publish between the hours of 7:00pm and 8:00pm EST.
Returning are Lunar Stunts principles, actors Irvin Nguyen and Mickey Arce reprising their roles as master and student who fought for each other to save their school in the first film. The sequel will introduce actor and martial artist Matt Page donning his famed Enter The Dojo persona, Master Ken who raids the school to challenge our two underdogs, boasting nothing short of the zany, comedic, groin-stomping martial arts bravado fans have grown to know and love since 2010.
More will be determined with Page also involved in the third installment as well while Nguyen has kindly graced netizens with an official teaser for the upcoming shortfilm sequel which you can view below!
A full on trailer is said to be coming in December while we have a pair of action clips from the upcoming short which will hopefully arrive before long as it looks all kinds of awesome.
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!
My weekend started off as a really loaded one. But, again, I was determined to squeeze in this week’s round up of amazing experimental fight action and cinematic stuntwork by some of today’s inspired performers…
That said, it’s been more than a year since I started conceptualizing these articles as Hit Lists and if you’ve been following us long enough, you already know how this goes: Stunt reels! Alas, you get two Vimeo exclusives from stuntwoman Thekla Hutyrova and fight coordinator Matt Berberi, followed by a YouTube-friendly playlist of fellow stunt performers in the form of an extended reel from martial artist and filmmaker Shaun Charney, and stunt reels by Brandyn T. Williams, famed Batman (1989) double Dave Lea, martial artist Nikki Stanley new reels from filmmakers Tony Diaz and actor Dennis Ruel, and a new 2016 reel by the award-winning martial arts performance troupe, Team Sideswipe.
Thekla Hutyrova Action Reel 2015 from Thekla Hutyrova on Vimeo.
MATT BERBERI 2015 FIGHT COORDINATOR REEL from matt berberi on Vimeo.
And now, off to some teaser news of which there are two; the first I found comes straight from the bearings of 233 Film with Ghanan director Antoni-Jordi Owusu for the upcoming short, The Exchange, which has some terrific shots to sell itself to an audience. The second hails from a Film Combat Syndicate team favorite, Lunar Stunts who’ve, for better or worse, prove that it’s neither too early nor late for a zombie movie with the upcoming short, The Highway.
Press play and feel the groove!
Time to get on board with some fight action this week, and as such, have a look at these samplers from Dardrex‘s own Darren Holmquist and Martin Chan, another sampler from Kefi Abrikh and Djibril Newik Chase, the EMC Monkey’s newest – Super Park Fighters, Eric Jacobus’s newest Doom-inspired Go Pro fight with Thomas Tan, actor and stuntman and newly-decorated Karate black belt Chuck Johnson’s latest endeavor with Quiet Flame Stunts in Poster Boys featuring Yasufumi Minowa, Corridor Digital’s Cat Dog Kung Fu, Ronnie Shalvis’s latest Star Wars-inspired freerunning lightsaber short with CBR Stunts and T. Ryan Mooney’s newest spectacular action piece, Tooth For A Tooth.
And lastly, the likely final Super Powered Beatdown of 2015 from the folks over at Bat In The Sun. Darth Maul goes toe-to-toe with your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, featuring respective performances by Dirk Ellis and Power Rangers: Dino Charge co-star Yoshua Sudarso, with fight choreography by Alvin Hsing, and with all votes cast for this latest video, fans can expect a new edit with an alternative ending in January. Enjoy the cosplay debates and the action-packed simulation below!
And there you have it. Subscribe to these channels for all the content you need and be sure to catch any of last week’s entries if you missed them. Moreover, we’re down to the wire for 2015 so if you wanna make Hit List history and have some awesome content you think deserves a spotlight, shoot it over to us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!
The fourth (hat tip to Twitchfilm) is a resurrected animated proof-of-concept for a live-action rendering of the animated classic, Ninja Scroll. Dracula Untold helmer Gary Shore directed the pitch with action sequences by 87 Eleven and animation by The Third Floor, and with Warner Bros. and Appian Way in possession of the rights as of 2008, and there’s no telling when a live-action take will come to pass although I personally recommend someone more suited for handling an anime property to direct should this come to pass. Just my opinion.
He acts and occasionally performs stunts, but he especially exercises his strengths behind the camera as well with his brother, Irvin, and fellow Lunar principle, Mikey Arce, among the team getting down and dirty to help manifest Eric’s vision. It’s an honor to see people like him doing what he does and a true gift to the genre as it adds to the potential quality it often starves within the mainstream, and you needn’t look further than the content on his channel with projects like Eat.Pray.Ninja. and the Pandora’s Box trilogy, and several of his collaborations with other filmmakers which are also online.