The Fall season really is off the hook. More stunt reels, more screenfighting gems and dazzling action shorts continue to flood your way, and as always, I’m more than gratified to help bring it to you…and with a bit of a throwback bonus at the end!…
However, in the name of giving it up to the very people who make the action genre what it is today, first things first! Kicking off The Hit List is a brand new playlist of stunt reels by Ashley Hudson, Gary Peebles, Lamar Bumbrey, Jace Jeanes, Tom Caserto and Jae Greene, and the latest reel from Perry Vangoethem and the French fight guys over at Actiengage!
Up next, we have a little more freerunning, and here are just a few videos in that category to add a little variety courtesy of Team Farang, a little highlight reel from the Southern Festival back in July featuring Saigon’s freerunning talent, a little interlude from 3run’s own Mike Young, and 11-year old Lilou’s amazing tumbling feats!
And now we get to the meaty stuff. The action gems. All fighting and no BS and as always, I’m separating them between long and short duration vids with the latter compiled into a full playlist of goods. Here and now is a playlist full of test goodies courtesy of Fight Factory stunts with Darren Holmquist and Oscar Leiva, a brutal new action sequence with Lucy Murray over in the UK, a little escrima get-together over at DPX Entertainment, Rustic B and Lucas Sullivan playing the Finger Games, a newly uploaded 2013 round pitting Young Masters’s own Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe against Gui DaSilva under Alexandre Huynh‘s direction, Josh Rasile and Gianni Moreira duking it out on the 38th Floor, Ivan Neshev and Dimitar Karageorgiev going toe-to-toe in Bulgaria in The Fugitive, a badass new action skit starring Kerry Wong and Morgan Benoit, a small snippet of 2016 action project, Code Rogue, from Domanimation Studios, and Force Storm Entertainment’s own Noah Fleder with two young Jedi in training. Enjoy the playlist!
Taking a bit of a break from the fights, we have to make room for at least one trailer in this department. As such, long after teasing some behind-the-scenes material, Martial Club’s own Andy Le and Unlucky Stars co-star Ken Quitugua can now be seen in a new teaser for the upcoming short, The Challenger. The project was directed by Tran Quoc Bao, an award-winning filmmaker for all the right reasons as you’ll see further down the Hit List, and it’s set to air on October 12 as a proof-of-concept to help finance a feature-length kung fu movie, and hopefully in the not too distant future.
Check it out below along with an exclusive still and several BTS photos, as well as teasers for two other fan film projects, Leroy Kincaide’s Max Payne: Retribution and Jeremie Shaw’s Blade fan short, Draven.
And now, it’s time to finish this bad boy off, and there are quite a handful of shorts to help present. The first comes from filmmaker Nich Musco with his latest Star Wars nod, Anger Leads to Hate, as per the philosophy of the Force familiar with most Star Wars fans. Jan Bryant designs the signature lightsaber action here and it looks just as amazing and epic as any lightsaber battle shot on film.
Martial artist and actor Kevin Barile has been on hand in Monrovia this past week for the events at this year’s Action On Film Festival. He gave attendees a martial arts and fight choreography seminar, and even drew an award for Best Trailer for his current feature film funding effort, Saving Sara. In the meantime, Barile also managed to debut his brand new martial arts action drama, Fight For Your Life, opposite Die Fighting co-star Davis Chong in a story of a man who literally fights the Undertaker in order to stay alive.
If you need a clear cut reason why you should support Barile’s martial arts feature film debut, now would be a good time to sample a reason why.
Up next is the latest martial arts action dramedy from Lunar Stunts Action Cinema, Of Martial Arts And Men from director Eric Nguyen and currently on deck for a few festivals. Mickey Arce takes the lead once more alongside Irvin Nguyen in a story that, in short, sets on a life lesson on when to kick a moral quandry in the face. Hard. Peep it!
This next to last bit of Hit List content is a milestone for me, eight years after its production and subsequent festival circulation. I’m talking Tran Quoc Bao’s 2008 noir action drama, Bookie, from Persistence Of Vision films in conjunction with Zero Gravity. Actress Angela Adto, and ZG’s own Aaron Toney and Sam Looc appear with Ken Quitugua leading as a bet collector at a dive in the 1960’s with a boxing event that could mean the difference between freedom with the woman he loves, and a life from which he will never break free.
Laurels aside, it’s the footage that does all the talking. If you haven’t seen Bookie until now, watch it below and take it all in until October 12 when The Challenger airs. You won’t be sorry.
Last and far from least, director Frank T. Ziede’s latest crowdfunding success story, Black, is flourishing greatly since a successful first-season in the last year or so. The second season has already kicked off with the first few episodes featuring actor Mikal Vega in the role of a military operative whose mission to seek out a terrorist organization could be compromised by an unknown mole.
The show is laden with all the necessary parts to make Black an authentic and rich military action and espionage drama with all of the trimmings, including a cast of which many are still either serving or retired. John T. Woods and Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa also star for the show’s limited progressive online roll out, so if you wish to see the episodes, now would be a good time. And feel free to subscribe to the accompanying Facebook page as well.
Now how’s that for a Hit List? If you’re still up for more, you can check out last week’s entries, but not before you subscribe to the ones from their channels above. And, if you fit the profile and make Hit List-worthy movies and reels just like these, hit us up at filmcombatsyndicate.blogspot.com and show us your cinematic fighting chops!