THE HIT LIST – April 20, 2015
The past week has been a bit crazy for me, although I wasn’t going to let it stop me from putting together this week’s new Hit List article. Indeed it’s shorter than usual as I’m sure I missed some gems that may be floating around out there, but there’s always time to share those as well, at best.
Alas, we get to see some new reels featuring amazing stunt feats by Sarah Belala, Niki Whalen, Samantha J. MacDonald, Kendall Wells, Isaac Bernauer, Dennis Ruel and Tyler Williams!
And now we get fighting! To kick things off though, the first short comes from independent filmmaking troupe, The Collective with Jeff Lunzaga at the helm. Hetja 2 is the name following last year’s Hetja, and I tried to share it in last week’s Hit List article when it was taken down for further edits before being uploaded again. And so I’m reintroducing it this week, and if should this be your introduction into Lunzaga’s brand of ‘Hyper Reality’ filmmaking, all I have to say is…well, be ready for ANYTHING. And I mean that in the most literal sense of the word. Will Yick and Bridger Fox star!
Up next, when Anthony Alba isn’t reacting to trailers with his adorable family, he’s also making indie films, and amid all the Star Wars hype last week, he released his latest bit of fanfare with Antoine Bandele in the new short, Way Of The Saber. Take a looksy!
NBC may be in limbo over its live-action serial DC Comics adaptation, Constantine, but that clearly won’t stop the looming fanfare over its source material. As such, the guys Lunarverse Pro have at least two new shorts out this year set within their own establishment of the Constantine universe with its own assortment of Angels and Demons, and of course…ninjas. Because why not? I’m as new to these guys as they are at screenfighting, though I do like some of the action and acting, so there’s some value here. Check it out for yourselves.
Speaking of ninjas, I have no idea how I missed this, and I hate that I did. This was released a few weeks ago from Substance Over Hype, the same team that helped bring J.W. Mariott’s ‘lovely’ original content debut to life last month with the short, Two Bellmen, and to day the least, this team continues not to miss a beat. That certainly applies with their latest collaboration with hip hop artist, MALAKAI for the song, Queens And Kings featuring Fingazz, with performances by the team and guest performer, EMC Monkey’s own Xin Wuku, and more! (cc iTunes)
And last but not least, the fourth episode of Envizion Film’s indie action drama series, The Way, is up and running with actor, martial artist and writer Khalil Barnett front and center with his as one of several branched-out stories of fighters trapped in an underground fighting circuit. The series is a spiritual homage to Bruce Lee with a script that reflects on internal martial transcendence and philosophy which makes it more cerebral than anything, as well as enjoyable to watch in that aspect. Watch it all unfold below! (FULL DISCLOSURE: Khalil Barnett is also an oft-contributor to Film Combat Syndicate with a column of his own titled “To The Hashi!”, which provides some interesting reads on his own insight with respect to the action genre today and its many facets. Stick around for those as well.
Subscribe to these channels and then CLICK HERE for last week’s Hit List if you’ve missed it. And moreover, if you have QUALITY content yourself in the form of a stunt reel, shortfilm or teaser, hit us up at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com