Well… this is it. It’s been another incredible year for The Hit List and being able to explore some filmmakers beyond what they shoot. There’s still plenty exploring left to be done as I hope to do something a bit more ceremonial by next year and maybe with a little help and some luck, I’ll be able to accomplish it.
Alas, we’ve reached the final Hit List for 2018 and we’re gonna cut to the chase here starting with a raft of stunt and action demos from some of today’s talented members and up-and-comers of the stunt industry, and relative althletes therein. We begin with a kinetic extensive overture from Quan Minh Le, followed by the latest stunt and training reels from Matt Esof, Angela Jordan, Mykola Galagan, Vikrant Kumar Kalania, Jared Kirby, Marian Sing, Bobby Hernandez, Jimmy Davidson, Javi Cornelio, Bridgette Bentley, Olivia Fowler-Courtney, and choreography reels by Anthony G. Elias and celebrated author, screenfighting expert John Kreng.
The playlist rounds it all out with a quintet of reels by the American Karate Association whose Team AKA just recently made a blip on my radar with seven of its latest additions: Ben Abramov, Mary Amanto, Sean Canavan, Enzo Bilog, Salef Celiz, Justin Chang, Ryan Ciappa and Allen Davies. To learn more about these kids, visit akakarate.com.
As far as trailers go, there are at least three I’m going to push and the first is for a short called Barber Fight, which is pretty self-explanatory from director Blake Ridder. Following that are trailers for newly-released fight drama, Way Out, and Czech medieval action short, The Knight Of Hope.
Time for a music break! And no, I don’t always share music videos – it’s usually if I enjoy them and they coincide with what I do here on my website. This one comes from fight coordinator Joseph Roark whose latest contribution to the MV scene arrived earlier this month in Breaking Benjamin’s “Torniquet”. Turn the volume up and let the thrashing commence!
Bringing it home this week is a playlist full of action-packed short gems (only a few of these are reshares to help reintroduce them with their second offerings), and Nancy Kimiyo is up first with a skit she sent to me over the weekend with Cina McKenna who has done several gems this year that I’ve been impressed with. Team Yas also makes a Hit List re-entry with a two-on-one practice bit led by Zia Kelly with Yasushi Asaya and Thaison Tran, followed by Sergi Subito with a bit of prop gun comedy, some sword action from Mikko Löppönen with Judit Sziva and Slava Dugin performing, Glen Michaels at Y.B. Action Community with I Caught You, and a Santa Fight with a whole lotta Santas at Stunt Gym (special thanks to Olga Miller who performs in it).
YouTube perosnality Nicole Arbor debuts on the Hit List this week, coaching her fans on the throwdown traditions of Holiday shopping with a little help from PeiPei Alena Yuan and Rustic Bodomov (and don’t forget Rustic’s newest Fight Scene Challenge which launched last week!). Following that is another lovely little holiday gem from Stephen Koepfer and the gang at Breakfall Studios in We Wish You A Merry Pre-Viz, while next up is a pair of action shorts by South Africa’s own Brownin October with Park Bully featuring himself and Trevor Kingston Frost, and Chase with Frost performing opposite Brandon October.
After that, we have a reshare of a Vlad Rimburg classic recently resurrected for better quality with Objective, and also, the now two-part action drama, The Objective from actor and director Ermas Baraki, and Leroy Kincaide’s newest action horror drama, Dead Zone.
From there, we have Red Rising, a two-parter borne from the creative melding of minds of Joseph Le and Leroy Nguyen and signaling a major outing for Team Red Pro that brings together some of the best in independent film and stunts within the Maryland/DC/Virginia area. The first part arrived last month and the hits get harder and bloodier with the explosive second part now here.
Last and WAY far from least is actor and filmmaker Choice Skinner who is probably one of the most adamant folks I’ve come to know on matters of comic books and adaptations. He’s defied certain expectations with his two-year festival push with latest fan film outing, Black Lightining: Tobias’ Revenge, initially rolled out in two parts for a limited time starring himself along with James Moten-Black as beloved comic book property, Static. Both parts have been woven into one for an official online release as of Monday morning.
Enjoy the hits!
And that’s all for the 2018 round of the Hit List, four years going strong. Click here to enjoy and catch up, and here’s a protip: Read carefully. The website got a reconstruction back in July so not everything is in THE HIT LIST category, though I did make sure to link every Hit List from previous weeks of the last four years in the bottom paragraphs. Explore and enjoy, and don’t hesitate to contact me at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com to send in further action-packed shortfilm and practice fight entries.
The Hit List returns in January TBA!