Glad I took my time in getting this Hit List together with all the videos and pics to display. Its been a busy week for me so I hope this will suffice. I should, right?
As always, let’s start off with the usual assortment of fantastic stunt reels now available online. Reel Deal Action member, actor and stunt professional Can Aydin has been coming into his own for sometime now. His story is an amazing one and I had the distinct pleasure of meeting him last month as he was in the good company of friend and industry fight coordinator and stuntman Jonathan Eusebio.
Aydin‘s body of work is currently poised to include his debut ensemble role with Reel Deal Action under directors Ufuk Genc and Michael Popescu for the upcoming milestone German martial arts action comedy, Plan B. Until then, you can currently his choreography and other stunt work in films such as Big Game starring Samuel L. Jackson, as well as upcoming releases of Hitman: Agent 47 this August, Ericson Core’s gravity defying action remake of Point Break, and much more. I sincerely recommend checking out the interview for yourself. Oh, and you can also check out his latest reel in the player just below as it’s TOO good to miss!
Other dynamo training and performance reels include those from Shayan Safar, Nick Siv, Hymnson Chan, Ben Tardif, Justice Hedenberg, Jade Dregorious and absolute MUST-SEE reels from Kassym Zhumaguzhin and team BUFF Connection.
And now, it’s time to get fighting and kicking off this final leg of the Hit List is a new video from Stunt 360. It’s been uploaded as a Demo Reel with footage pertaining to a future project, and between the stunts, the fight action, costumes and make-up, it looks absolutely ferocious both visually AND audibly. Judging by the title, Unleashed 360 Demo Reel, you can already tell what the theme is, and I’m sure that a workable expansion of this will do wonders.
The following test fight videos beneath it also include performances by Kamikaze star Marcus Shakesheff for Codex Digital’s new Codex Action Cam Demo, Juan Bofill’s newest fight experiment with Shayna Bofill, Christopher Llorca and Reuben Maldonado and director Sone Hayato’s Samurai proof-of-concept, Shinsegumi with Shogen, Funaki Ikki and Mimoto Masanori with action design by Sonomura Kensuke. After that, you’ll see a clip with Fernando Huerto and Eric Jacobus from Huerto’s upcoming Gunpoint series reboot, and another gem from The Racka Racka pitting warring fans against one another between Halo against Call Of Duty – full of face-ripping, tit-shooting and all sorts of over-the-top violence you can expect from these folks!
At long last, Bat In The Sun and Machinima have recently unveiled both versions of the epic Super Power Beatdown episode featuring action actors Peter Jang and Toku mainstay Jason David Frank in their respective performances as Street Fighter’s legendary Hadou purveyor, Ryu, and the iconic Green Ranger. Bat In The Sun hosts these videos periodically with votes from fans who generate which ending comes first.
I wonder who you guys voted for!
We have some new shortfilm material online as well with longer durations. The first comes straight from the gang at Martial Club as of last week, dispensing their usual flair for kung fu comedy in homage to the stylish classics. Quest To Become Kung Fu Master is the title with performances by Andy Le, Daniel Mah and Du Au with Brian Le and featuring Shaun Charney among others in this latest romp. The second is the first of several serial boxing drama installments to come from Grayson: Earth One helmer Hisonni Johnson, titled Fight Night Legacy, centered on the events of an underdog fighter (Dio Johnson) dying from liver cancer as he struggles his way back up.
Finally, it’s trailer time. Some are real, and some are fake. These are definitely fake, but well worth the viewing if you’re a true classic Asian action fan like Adrian Castro whose latest crafty contribution, Tiger Cop 1 & 2 captures all the aesthetics traditionally seen in 80’s Hong Kong action cinema with actress Maria Tran lending her attributes as her own tributary 80’s HK Police Madam genre. Dickson Poon would be proud.
Up next, Garrett Dumas and Carnell Holley are returning to reprise their roles in the upcoming shortfilm sequel, Black Panther & Deadpool: The Gauntlet, following up their successful short last year. If R-rated superhero action and comedy is more your speed ahead of what Hollywood and feature indies may offer, this will be reassuring for fans. Check out its trailer!
The last comes from filmmaker Sean Cronin in his most recent collaboration with UK actor and martial artist Cengiz Dervis for a 20-minute short that encapsulates you in a journalist’s curiousity centered on one man’s ultimate struggle for redemption and healing in the face of tragedy, taking on the underworld fight circuit’s most gruesome pugilists. I got to screen this film before it was removed from public viewing prior to its entry at Cannes this month, and the result is simply an astonishing piece of work, delivering action and drama with great performances by the cast, including Dan Richardson and actress Kate Braithwaite.
Welcome to London Hood, and its following trailer.
As far as pics go, while you can currently catch a teaser for Rising Tiger’s upcoming Sega Dreamcast-inspired fan short, Shenmue, the crew have assembed some new stills to inspire the curiousity. The short unveils its kickassery with Leroy Nguyen and Daniel Sim on May 27 29. The album beneath includes a set of pics from Bob Bravler’s latest short, The Spider And The Bird, which centers on actresses Toy Lei and Michelle Jubille Gonzalez in a sexy revenge love story that packs a punch or two. It’s currently seeking festival attention so it may not be up for a long while, but the pics should suffice, along with whatever you like at its Facebook page.
And lastly, we have a new music video for the upcoming feature thematic martial arts crime sequel, SPL 2: A Time For Consequences. For better or worse with what little Google translate does for anyone, the title song translates to “Break”, featuring the vocal stylings of singer Alex Chia hitting the bag and taking it to the ring ahead of the film’s release next month. Enjoy!
Last week’s Hit List is HERE if you missed it. In the meantime, subscribe to these channels, and if you have a QUALITY reel, test fight or short you want presented here, e-mail us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!