I’m currently getting over a cold, but hopefully you’ve rested well from your Easter weekend as the past two days have been brimming with all things Batsy and Super. Otherwise, here and now and once more, we attribute our day of the week to an article filled with things that make up a lot of the entertainment you see on the big screen, thanks to none other than the stunt community. It’s a little shorter than preferred but I think you’ll still get your fill, in my opinion.
Getting things off to an excellent start this week is actor and stuntman Eric Jacobus with his latest movelist performance attributed to Tekken game villain, Heihaichi Mishima, followed by reels from filmmaker and action director Bueno, stunt performers Ryan Robertson, tricker Vellu Saarela, Aviel Ayoung, Curt Wheeler, Nick Stanner, and Steve Bravler, and a fan reel knitted with scenes attributed to celebrated Hong Kong Cinema legend, actor and film star Yuen Biao.
As for promotional bits, we have a few posters making the rounds for sometime now for an upcoming independent project involving actor and stuntman Wildchild Gil Sanabria titled City Breach. The posters boast something of a cop action thriller of sorts and there’s no other information available, but you never get bored watching Sanabria in action, and if you’ve seen his performance as the seemingly unbeatable hitman in José Manuel’s directorial debut, El Testigo, you’ll know exactly what I mean. Feel free to follow his page for more details and content.
Next up is a teaser clip from a nifty little upcoming action short from the UK director Benedict Sanderson titled Kung Fu Darling. Details are nil in the story and setting overall but UK talent, actress and martial artist Zara Phythian shows no difficulty in selling this little gem properly, courtesy of choreography duo, Joey Ansah and actress and co-star Katrina Durden (Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist/Resurrection). Moreover, this is the first I’ve seen of Sanderson’s work and the teaser alone stipulates he’s getting my martial arts fanboy attention appropriately.
Now we step into the fight arena and the first two piece I’m sharing are in celebration of the 2014 cult hit, The Raid 2.
First up is, Hammergirl, a piece I still pride myself on after all these years of following fight choreographer Vlad Rimburg’s work, and the second comes right from the bowels of EMC Monkeys with a test fight of their own with Tony Sre and Bryan Sloyer.
Continuing the playlist is a little something sitting online as of early last year called Kali Diaries, the first in a series by actress and stuntwoman Lauren Mary Kim – better known nowadays as Élodie Yung’s stunt double for the role of Elektra in Marvel’s Daredevil on Netflix. She’s been grooming herself as a practitioner of FMA as of late from what I understand, and I’ve only recently caught onto it as she’s recently begun teasing some more videos to come, and I look forward to sharing them on here in due time.
Following that is a pair test fight skits from Jeremy Rivette – Framed for Tenth Gate Productions and Fatal Clashing opposite Vanessa Bojanowski, Studio T.C.’s Beatdown with Leo Zhang and Darren Holmquist, Lunar Stunts Action Cinema with a Special ID-stylized fight scene with Irvin Nguyen and Martin Chan, and Nhan Du headlining Cinematic Fight Studio’s latest, The Dreaming Dragon.
The final video in the playlist is another in a list of videos I am resurrecting this year in my Hit List articles, with this one coming courtesy of the Flow YouTube channel. Their portal contains some of the most kinetic and substantive content fans of movement have ever seen, and 2013 was a year no different for them in the premiere of their action-packed series, The Hunt, produced by Sam Parham and Travis Wong with choreography once more by Vlad Rimburg. There’s not much story involved in its execution with exception to suggestions of warriors, beasts, and sorcerers traversing through realms challenging one another, but the series itself is a brilliant culmination of talented individuals who each present a level of gravitas and skill to their craft in fight sequences that are purely deserving of attention and credit. Jimmy Chhiu and Gui DaSilva perform in this one, and if this is your first dig at The Hunt, get ready to have your finger tracking midway at 1:10 over and over again to see just what the f**k DaSilva did, because he moves that g**damn fast!
Enjoy the playlist!
Last and far from least is a new shortfilm proof-of-concept that runs quite high on starpower in a few ways. Code 8 is the name with a sci-fi setting in a version of Los Angeles where superpowered beings are the oppressed minority with Robbie Amell and Fast And Furious franchise co-star Sung Kang starring.
The project is the latest to combine forces between and Amell and cousin, Arrow co-star Stephen Amell who executive produced the shortfilm for Colony Pictures following a successful Indiegogo campaign that came before. Much to the fortune of fans, the latter Amell will be joining Robbie in a feature film follow-up that will commence shooting later this year, and with Code 8 serving as a precursor, your best bet is to check it out below and subscribe to the Facebook fan page for more details.
Still pining for more action? You can always click here for last week’s hard-hitting entries. Moreover, be sure to subscribe to the channels, and if you or someone you know has a thrilling stunt reel, test fight or shortfilm that you think deserves a spot in our weekly Hit List, email us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!
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Lee B. Golden III
Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!