The week turned out quite different for content rollout it seems! It wasn’t as quiet as I thought it would be last week and so this week’s Hit List should be plenty filling, and I thank you, readers, for tuning back in.
As always, we begin with a nifty round of stunt reels from some of today’s budding and top stunt performers, starting with Kate Cochran, Tien Hoang, Sam Situmorang, Mustafa Bulut, Stephen Koepfer, Jennifer Badger, Joshua Pereira, Billy Bussey, John Lyke, Joseph Roark, Kemet Black Whitlow and, Sergei Dmitriev, Evan Dane Taylor and Ben Van Huis.
There’s currently nothing available in terms of promotion that has caught our eye as of yet, so I say give time. Meanwhile, what we have here is a bit of an experiment for three contributors at Buzzfeed – Kelsey Impicchiche, Michelle Khare and Jordan Shalhoub – who decided to partake in superhero stunt training and performance under the guidance of fight choreographer Steve Brown and Garrett Warren (Logan, Why Him?). After investing their share of ample effort into the required, rigorous conditioning, the result now brings us a short story of three heroines still figuring how to do the whole superhero thing while taking on a horde of baddies and defusing a bomb… and Brown starring as a one-eyed evil mad doctor. Because comedy.
Enjoy!
I don’t always share music videos, except for when something really catches my eye with an added stunt performance element. And I don’t frequent music videos often when I sift through videos so I have to credit stuntman and filmmaker Greg Rementer for his latest jazzy entry, Trust In Me, which he directed, and featuring recording artist and wife Erin Rementer. Check it out and you might get an idea about the inspiration that initially drew this vision, Disney films and such ?.
Alrighty, time to trade fists and kicks in this week’s round of mini-action flicks from shortest to longest, and the first brings us a few re-uploaded snippets of Jeff Lunzaga’s 2014 hyper reality short, Hetja: the first of a shorts trilogy combining action and comedy in an “anything goes” formula for improv and impromptu guillera-style cinema here and now partly sampled by performers Darren Holmquist, Ryan Liguid, Bridger Fox and Evelyn Lesaca.
Next up is an Escrima-inspired action comedy bit with Eddy Shore and Ermar Alexander, Chris Romrell lensing Todd Robbins and Robert Bennett in Secret Secrets from CBR Stunts, Robert Angier with a new test fight featuring David “Dax” Bauer and Seth Austin for Arnhem Pictures, Lunar Stunts keeping the fervor going with 80’s Hong Kong ode, Angry Triad and David Conk at Wolf Stunts bringing sheer brutality to The Game with Shai Debroux and Tony Vo. Following that is a Wheels On Meals-inspired re-upload of a classic fight scene re-enacted by stunt players Brendon Huor and Mickey Facchinello (see this post!)from Emmanuel Manzanares, followed by a fresh new test fight piece from Manchester-based Butterfly Twist Studios for UK Fight Design, and a clip from Jyo Carolino’s 2015 short, I Am Spartan, which is still circulating festivals until its determined public release.
Rounding out the playlist are three incredible shortfilms currently making the rounds online and we begin with Sam KJ whose latest offering comes by way of the Linux YouTube channel testing the GH5 model. With Jay Kwon leading a cast of meaty, hardcore stunt players led by the masked Robert Dill and with fight choreography by Michael Lehr, you’re invited into what could easily be written into a martial arts sci-fi featuring one guy fighting to put an end to an evil criminal hive-mind controlled by breathing apparati…hence the title, Unmasked!
Taking the stage afterward are two feats of fanfare withNarayana Cabral’s Power Rangers fan film, The Search For Tommy starring Caitlin Huston, and The Milton & Glenn Show parodying two varying formulas of action with The Matrix vs. Neo.
From there, Stanton Chong – by way of this weekend’s festivities at the Film Fu Fight Festival – makes his return to the Hit List this week representing Eunoia Creations with a ‘Game‘ of his own and with none other than stunt player Sean Kohnke beating up a LOT of Canadians…and all for a good cause!
Last and FAR from least is the first of a 2-part inspired fan adaptation of DC property, Black Lightining pitting our title hero against Tobias Whale and the 100 gang with the mayor’s life hanging in the balance. Director Choice Skinner stars from his own script co-written by co-star James Moten-Black, and with Dimitri Morantus, Jay Hunter, Ishida Sachiko, Chase Baker, Daffany McGaray Clark and Michael Anthony Bianco also starring.
Push play and let ‘er rip!
Last week’s entries should guarantee you a good way to pass the time if you need to catch up or if you’re new to the Hit List…in which case, Howdy!
Subscribe to the channels and lens your support, and, if you or someone you know has a badass stuntreel, shortfilm or something they’d like to promote in these categories courtesy of our weekly Hit List, hit us up at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!
