Well, my weekend was another work weekend. Apart from that I just played it low key and tuned into some more anime and more Hit List content, and I didn’t think I would find a lot to load for the second playlist.
As you’ll see, I found plenty to share amid all you can now enjoy in this week’s installment, including a new set of stunt and action demo reels
Joseph Ray Santos,
Erika Keck,
Jon Miguel,
Monica Lopez Aleman,
Paul Drechsler,
Ben Van Huis,
Michaela McAllister,
Sean Kohnke,
Darren Holmquist and
Gibb Diaz Ng Yu. Rounding it out is a spiritual tribute to the one and only
Jean-Claude Van Damme from filmmaker and well known independent action extraordinaire,
Vlad Rimburg. Highlights from many of his earlier hits such as
Cyborg,
Kickboxer,
Double Impact,
Lionheart,
Hard Target and
Timecop are all included with an opening theme central to the exposition highlit from the 1988 martial arts classic,
Bloodsport. It’s a re-share on my own behalf seeing as how Rimburg just revived it on his own
Facebook fan page, and so I’ve added it to the playlist below for your own enjoyment in celebration of an action star who has risen, fallen and risen once again.
Enjoy!
Moving onto something a bit more extensive is a new featurette hosted by Corridor Digital duo Sam Gorski and Niko Pueringer. It features a team led by stunt coordinator Luke LaFontaine (Ninja Gaiden 3 – VG, The Beautiful Ones) [more on him later as well] will be seen credited in due time for an upcoming John Woo project which I will not mention here – although I will only tell you for certain that I have written about it as many other sites have reported on.
Alas, enjoy the featurette, and good luck guessing!
And now we move onto the playlist of short action projects, kicking things off appropriately with a gnarly new Lightsaber test fight performed by Marek Svitek and Alicia Vela-Bailey, and coordinated by the one and only Matt Mullins (Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.). Following that is a pair of experimental action videos featuring South Africa’s own Grant Powell and his team, Dan Dargan Carter and Sam Slater in their own action short titled Ungrateful Gift, Finnish lensman Mikko Löppönen throwing down on a boat with performers Jessica Wolff and Eduard Fouché, and perfect summer refresher aptly titled Water Gun Fight from Joey Min with performers Stephanie Pham and Angela Jordan.
Rounding out the playlist is a terrific little gem from filmmaker David Conk and featuring a real wicked group of performers led by Anis Cherfua and Daniel Graham for the new short, Nowhere. It’s a great little piece from Conk whose own Wolf Stunts now bears a fierce, new opening logo which I absolutely love, and brands his banner perfectly with the caliber of action he’s able to put together on film.
Enjoy the playlist!
Last and far from least is a trio of noteworthy shortfilms to share this week with the first coming from independent filmmaker Darren Holmquist of Dardrex Productions. Years after its online virility, the 2012 action drama,
The Fight Choreographer, bodes as one of the best shortfilms ever made with a subject tantamount to stunt professionals alike. The project is finally on the way to festivals this year starring Holmquist along with C.J. Riot, with actor and stuntman Thomas Tan in the title role, and Lane Turney who plays the obnoxious director.
The second in the playlist comes courtesy of the Disney Channel Youtube portal as one of a bundle of 12 shortfilms from the network as part of its agenda to build a digital audience as well as broaden its creative table. Arcanum is the name of the short from stunt coordinator and filmmaker Mitch Gould with actor Leo Howard (Kickin’ It) starring as a mysterious rock and roll musician who arrives at a library to confront its keeper while in search of a mysterious stone that could save the world from an ancient evil. Also starring are Louis Mandylor with Howard facing off against an enchanted suit of armor played by Dan Southworth (Mortal Kombat Legacy S2), and the aforementioned LaFontaine coordinating the action.
Take it away!
Last but not least is a throwback to 2013 with a project I’m very much new to. It comes from 2014 Stars Of Tomorrow prospects, acclaimed shortfilm directors The Halsall Brothers – Matt and Simon, hailing from Seoul by way of London who have entrenched themselves greatly into the heart of their craft with their winning short film projects.
Their latest gem can be viewed here while The Hit List now accomodates their 2013 revenge drama, If I Only Had A Heart, the story a young street fighter whose memory of a letter left by the mother who abandoned him in a coin locker a long time ago are all that keep him going following a near-death experience – the culmination of a violent cycle of life to which there is no resolve without fighting.
This, I think, is one of the best shortfilms I’ve ever seen and I’m sure I’m not alone in this opinion. Actor Min Jung Kim is a stand-up performer in every aspect, absorbent of the very vision that lends this jewel of a movie the very acclaim that it has earned in the last several years…and I fucking hate myself for not having caught onto this sooner. Boy oh boy.
This isn’t entirely an action piece, but it’s full of imagery centered with enough brutality and gore to reel you into the revenge story it is written as. It’s totally dark and brooding with massive and powerful drama and I’ll be goddamned if these filmmakers aren’t given a budget to make something greater following this.
Watch this shortfilm and learn more about 100 Bullets through this link!
Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!
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