THE HIT LIST: October 17, 2016
…Anyway, enough of that. It’s time to get to a trio of meaty, mighty playlists for this week’s installment of THE HIT LIST that I know you will have plenty to fill up with. And on that note, we can always count on actor, martial artist, stuntman and filmmaker Eric Jacobus to lead the way for videos specially attributed to the Tekken game franchise. With another already in tow, Armor King is now staking his claim via Eric’s YouTube channel first up in the playlist below, followed by a slew of stunt and demo reels by Luci Romberg, Jake Teel, Sakaeda Ayami, Justin Hall, Daisy Fryer, Fernando Campos, ToniMarie Chiavola, Angel Flores, Meredith Richardson, Roger Bartlett, Noelle Mulligan, Jonathan King, Cavin Mohrhardt and an awesome new fan reel inspired largely by filmmaker Steve Wang’s Guyver: Dark Hero, with actor and martial artist Anthony Houk’s central costume performance in the title role.
Off to some promotional jewels for this segment of the Hit List and first up is a little something for the Star Wars fans with a new shortfilm by director Keith Allen this November. Han Solo: A Smuggler’s Trade is the name of the fan film set near the events of A New Hope in which our anti-hero, teased ever so convincingly in the first teaser of the following playlist by actor Jamie Costa, sets out to rescue an old friend. The teaser alone should service a nice little welcome for the fan film’s arrival next month as a humble little preamble to Disney’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which releases in theaters this December.
Rounding out the playlist is probably one of the sickest POV freerunning videos I’ve ever seen. One version of it was freebooted by UNILAD on Facebook and it led me to their fanpage identifying them as the UK-based maverick freerunning and filmmaking troupe, Storrorblog. And, as it turns, out, the video was a promo as per their upcoming 90-minute feature film documentary, Rooftop Culture Asia, which explore’s the team’s strive in the mental and physical challenges they face, using Asia’s towering structures as their backdrop. That video comes before the official trailer for documentary and you can learn more about the team through this link.
The embed just beneath is the most recent teaser for filmmaker Trent Dickens’s latest independently-produced crowdfunded effort, Panda, stylishly made with a psychedelic nature to its vision as we meet an unknown man in a mask whose violent, turbulent night will change the course of his life forever.
Cue the players! And subsequently, the music! And the vertigo!
And now, off to the business of sharing the internet’s sick martial arts action, and I while I wasn’t able to find a lot of short fight content, I did manage to compile a full playlist of goods from around the web.
So, let’s rev it up some with Danny Vega out in Florida with a cadre of stunt players for some wicked barbarian test fight choreography, along with South Africa’s own Grant Powell getting work done with some of his team on camera as well. The playlist kicks it up a notch courtesy of Vlad Rimburg with his latest action short, Countdown, featuring Anisha Gibbs and Black Panther stunt double for Captain America: Civil War, actor Gui DaSilva, with Trenton Rostedt following through with a cool pre-vis fight choreography video from own YouTube channel.
From there, the action thickens with Wuji Films’s latest short, Instinct, performed by Joshua Zacharias and Bronson Cameron, and a clip revival from Micah Brock’s hit martial arts miniseries, Slug Street Scrappers, featuring Martial Club’s own Andy and Brian Le.
The next comes from filmmaker Freddie Wong with Hero Of The East – inspired by Blizzard’s 2015 MMO game, followed by Robert Angier’s Beta Test – a fresh new fan film attributed to the hype for the forthcoming live-action serial adaptation of Ito Tomohiko’s anime treatment of Kawahara Reki’s hit manga print, Sword Art Online, action star Michael Jai White latest comedy stint with the good folks at Primr with Michael Jai White Kills Movie Killers, and a nifty little action gem serving as an otherwise servicable proof-of-concept titled Fall Fury from earlier this year, directed by Joshua Fraiman.
Leave it to Hardcore Henry helmer Ilya Naishuller to keep things steady here with some more unrelenting, bloodletting, rapid and violent music video craze and haze in the years Bad Motherf*cker by Biting Elbows. He’s back with his latest investment, False Alarm, the second single from the next forthcoming album from The Weekend titled Starboy which drops on November 25, and the music video kicks off with a bank robbery that immediately goes tits up and over the cliff in a hail of bullets and explosive action. Parental Advisory noted, of course, so if you’re a parent and a reader of The Hit List enjoying these articles with your kids up until now, consider yourselves forwarned.
The action continues thereafter with the return of the aforementioned Cameron and Zacharias opposite actor and filmmaker Anthony Javier in his latest action crime short, Gurillaz, proceeded by Ismahawk‘s own Danny Sheperd and Jeremy Le with their latest gargantuan minute matchup pitting Team Voltron against the Power Rangers and their Megazord – but can the Rangers win without the power of Green? Only one way to find out!
And for the big finish we have the answer to the prayers for anyone who has ever wanted to see Banshee hit series co-star Lili Simmons fight crime. For this, we bring you Robyn Hood: I Love New York, from Popboom, the creators of the inspired Dead @17 fan film. Jack Heller produced and directs with key performances by Simmons along with action actresses, stunt players Hannah Scott and Heidi Schnappauf, and stunt sequences designed by Drew Leary.
Not to be outdone is last week’s Hit List which is still up for grabs. Click here to peep it and feel free to subscribe to all the channels you’ve enjoyed this week for more content. And of course, if you or someone you know does what these awesome people do and you feel you’re equally awesome enough for a place in our weekly Hit List, hit us up at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!
Native New Yorker. Lover of all things pizza, chocolate, pets, and good friends. Karaoke hero. Left of center. Survivor. Fond supporter of cult, obscure and independent cinema - especially fond of Asian movies and global action cinema. Author of the bi-weekly Hit List. Founder and editor of Film Combat Syndicate. Still, very much, only human.
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