THE HIT LIST: October 2, 2017

I find myself taking more weekends off these days. I’ll be doing more of this as it’ll give me more time for movies to enjoy. Some I’ll review, like this one, which was very good and you can find it now on Netflix.

Others you’ll likely find on YouTube or Vimeo and we’ve got a variety from both platforms now piled on for this week’s gathering of badass stunt reels, shortfilms and promotional goods known aptly as The Hit List!

We’re getting things started this week with updated reels by prominent stuntman Jude Poyer, Paul Varacchi and John Kreng via Vimeo. From there, we commence the playlist beginning with a fan tribute I found for Asian cinema action legend Kim Won Jin who happens to be one of the most underrated and under used cult action stars to date. (Perhaps someone can contact him for the Triple Threat sequel? *Wink-Wink-Nudge-Nudge* ?).

We continue onward with spectacular training and demo reels by Martial Club’s own Andy Le and Canadian baton boss lady Michelle C. Smith, followed by reels from Marc Rodrigues-Bernet, Jason Gupton, Felix Fukuyoshi, Troy Butler, John Cihangir, John Santiago, Ed Nathan Mecate, Lacey Robinson and Vinny O’Brien. The playlist rounds out with some amazing choreography and team reels by French fall guy Manu Lanzi, Czech Action Crew and Thailand-based Jaika Stunts.

Hit it!

This week’s promtional gems start with a project long in the making. You can read my review for it here as its titled Dancer from Australian filmmaker Johnny Balazs and centers on a weary assassin’s last ditch efforts to free the love of his life from the criminal underworld rooted at the seedy gentlemens’ club where she performs.

Balazs premiered the latest poster over the weekend announcing the new shortfilm’s live premiere on YouTube and the Prima Lux Films Facebook page on Wednesday, October 4. I’m pretty excited to share it myself for a few reasons, one which includes Balazs introducing me to the music of Harem Scarem, making Pandora a lot more fun to jam to these days! ?

For a quick refresher, the latest promo from February kicks off the trailer playlist below. The playlist also contains promos for the October 6 online airing of independent action auteur Vlad Rimburg’s premiere collaboration with Woods Entertainment, The Princess Chronicles, starring Amy Johnston and the axe-wiedling Mickey Facchinello, along with a teaser for Ed Nathan Mecate’s upcoming comedy short, Rush, and an announcement by the team at Robot Underdog for the second and third epsiodes of their independently-produced shortfilm saga love letter, Dragon Ball Z: Light Of Hope.


Hit the playlist just below the banner!

Onward we move through the final leg of this week’s Hit List bringing a mix of great action with a few doses of comedy to boot.

Stuntman and fight coordinator Airon Armstrong gets some playtime in this week with fellow stunt players Hannah Scott and Zack Roberts as they duel sharp weaponry and buttheads in a brutal fight to the finish.

Commencing the playlist just beneath is stunt coordinator Jae Greene who stands atop the pile with his own fight practice video featuring Heather Hayes and Chris Schmidt Jr., with the aforementioned Ed Nathan Mecate host to pair of comedy-style action shorts from his own channel. We then follow that up with another sweet fight practice offering from Alvin Hsing with performances by Lee Chesley and Katelyn Brooke while Kyle Potter puts in some camera time for screenfighters Will Greenburg and Andrew Franklin.

Dave Macomber and James Hutchison keep the energy going with a pulsating practice fight featuring Natasha Paul opposite Caine Sinclair and Billy Bussey. Before long, we meet the one-woman army that is Brittany Russell in a gritty three-on-one with Andrew Franklin, Trevor Logan and Subin Choi, and we return to Mr. Rimburg once more with a delightful offering to online action fans with a Ballerina-inspired group fight pre-viz that brings Shai DeBroux, Dennis Ruel and Amy Sturdivant among others back to the Hit List.

Finishing things off in signature form is the genius work of anime icon Watanabe Shinichiro with Black Out 2022, an amazing and brilliant shortfilm prologue released online by Crunchyroll ahead of this this week’s upcoming sci-fi sequel, Blade Runner 2049 from director Denis Villeneuve.

Enjoy the Hits!

Last week’s Hit List has all you need in online action if you’re looking for more to kill some time with. Click here, and by all means, subscribe to the channels for your show of support, and as always, if you or someone you know has a damn good stunt reel to show to the world, or a badass fight practice or shortfilm project that could use a boost, skip the formalities and e-mail us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com and we’ll be happy to have a look ourselves!/i>

Lee B. Golden III

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