February 8 2015

THE HIT LIST – February 9, 2015

Lee B. Golden III News filmcombatsyndicate.com, indie action, shortfilms, the hit list, webseries 1

This week’s Hit List was another adventure. I managed to do this while accomplishing five write-ups this week for my friend over at The Action Elite and I still have a ton of work to finish regarding interviews I’m working on putting together. So, hopefully you’ll like what’s presented here. It’s another epic mix of stuff and some of it may be a little too R-rated for your tastes, but I hope I made up for it in the end. At any rate, these should still be great vids to enjoy along the way.

First off is a real from an awesome director who has already cut his teeth quite well in stunts and fight choreography. Remember the name Beau Fowler and be on the lookout for a trailer later this week for his most recent proof-of-concept action sci-fi short, Chameleon. His most recent director’s reel from late last year has a few highlights from that very project among several, and the reel itself has quite a few other goods as well. Check it all out below along with other reels from Mohamed Benabdellah, Aridani Del Rosario Medina, Jay Kwon and Umar Khan!

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Post by Umar Khan.

Over here, well, I don’t know much about teeterboarding, although it seems Damien Walters and his crew pretty much have it down packed. Check it out below and go freerunning with Dylan Baker just beneath!

Looking into some shortfilm material, there are two new trailers and several other videos out this month that I found from two very impressive projects and creators. The first is a teaser for an upcoming shortfilm titled Dogs, an action-packed collaboration between Rising Tiger Films and Deadly Dymes hosting a story of loyality and betrayal, featuring Edmond Shum and actress Yara Brown. I’ve written about Rising Tiger before and have even sampled their public and exclusive work, and truthfully, the work they’re putting out is only getting better an better, so I highly advise paying attention as the months pass.

Beneath that one is a three-fer I’d like to share – the first is a teaser to the student-produced independent shortfilm, Jagon, about a warrior in search of a powerful rosary. Produced by Filmakademie Baden-Württembürg and SWR’s own Hannes Hohn and Johannes Kunkel and directed by Murat Eyüt Gonültas, the teaser briefs us with some truly high-quality stunning visuals to boot. The YouTube channel its hosted on has some very cool behind-the-scenes and motion-capture choreography featurettes, and it looks like its all shaping up to be something truly special. Movie Do’s own Eskindir Tesfay and Tolga Degirmen are credited for handling the action, and can also be seen in a new pre-viz choreography video for Degirmen’s own group, Impulse, as well as the latest new message martial arts short from Movie Do and Movie-Do and Budosportcenter in Münster, Germany titled On Second Thought.

You may recall the unveiling of a poster for a James Bond-inspired shortfilm titled Sapphire from independent filmmaker Colin Emmerson over a week ago. It was supposed to release the following day but technical issues crippled any release plans thereafter and our dear director needed a few extra days to fix what needed fixing by its release earlier last week. The short is an inspired look at Bond-style action with an otherwise experimental take on how the classic M-16 agent would bode with audiences as non-white lead. This time, actor, stuntman and choreographer Jean-Paul Ly is taking the lead in this lovely dance of death, and the response has been nothing short of positive. If this is your first viewing, this may delight you more than a medium Vodka dry martini… shaken, not stirred that is.

The next video comes from independent filmmaker Shaun Charney whose latest collaboration with Nathan Lee and Ishida Sachiko happens to be one of the most entertaining. I’ve covered Ishida a time or two and by far, this one is her most hardest-hitting video yet, and as per most of Charney‘s videos, the ending is definitely worth a giggle.

Feel free to click here and familiarize yourself with Australia’s own Đồng Thanh Alliance in Syndey where fight choreographer Trung Ly worked on a sampler which published last month. We have a new video now available and it features a choreo sampler for the recent award-winning short film, Hit Girls with actress Maria Tran front and center.

Aside from all the giant robot v. monster spectacle in Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim, the film did have a few little fight gems in it as well, and here we have some cool concept choreo by longtime fight choreographer Brad Allan with performances by Max Savaria and Eli Martyr opposite stuntman and up-and-coming actor Alain Moussi. Take a look at a few of the techniqhes and you might get an idea where this particualr sequence might take place.

Tsiknes Films is a channel I came across a few weeks ago while browsing some of their videos, of which there are several as of last month. From the looks of it, they appear to be newly established although their work looks pretty good so far. Their latest, Hide And Seek should serve as a good enough sample.

Think that old game you used to play in grade school… and then add weapons into the mix. The result is pretty gruesome and otherwise thrilling. Check it out!

It’s not exactly disingenuous to allege that that filmmakers like Timo Tjahjanto and Kimo Stamboel have gained themselves a bit of cult fandom over the years, and their recent thriller, Killers, is a good example of this with a similar tone added to the following short, Vendetta: Part 1. The project is the first of a two part project from Canadian film groups Black Ice 140 and Wuji Films, written and directed Kyle Wong who stars opposite Joshua Zacharias in a story of two assassins vying for a place at the top. Quite the NSFW stuff here although not too gory to be honest, but discretion is advised otherwise. Take a looksy and keep an eye out for the sequel later this year!

Last year was a good year for actor, martial artist and filmmaker Leroy Kincaide to release his newest shortfilm, Freeman: New World Order, which has since been stated to be on its way to feature-length development. Details are pending in that regard, so in the meantime, Kincaide is still creating content of his own, and as such, has put together a little entertaining test fight gem with Freeman co-star Grant Steven, and its an excellent piece of work for the few minutes it lasts. Take a looksy!

Seems its gotten a bit grim down here, so let’s pick it up with the next two videos now in the world of gaiming: The first video, Little Mac V. Dark Ness was an intro to a stage show called Gamers Against The Gridmark. DC Stunt Coalition designed the action for this particular project which originally premiered at MAGFest 2013. The second video just beneath is a clash of two game universes featuring an epic cosplay sword battle between Link and Marth now hosted on the official channel Ismahawk (home to creator Danny Shepherd’s Nightwing series).

Up next is independent filmmaker Bryan Sloyer whose filmmaking has become pretty impressive in the last few years. He’s gotten very creative and I love the rate at which he plays with certain ideas that now give a lot of his test fights more style and intensity with certain themes and how they’re set up, and his latest, Looper: Part 1, is a wicked example of this. Kage Yami, Anthony Hoang and Amy Sturdivant star in the epic battle of foresight that ensues below!

For the next, we have Finnish filmmaker Mikkö Löppönen‘s latest take on what happens when love at first sight occurs between two people with a…well, a particular set of skills in a cramped space. Watch the new action short simply titled Hississä (or, Elevator), with performances by Jesse Liskola and Jaana Joensuu.

As you might guess with director Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service now servicing movie patrons in theaters, there plenty of fandom o go around. With that in mind, VFX film producer and director Freddie Wong is back in collaboration with the one and only Yung Lee of Gak Attack directing the gentlemanly, yet brutalizing action seen in the brand new short, London Brawling. See it below, and by all means, go see Kingsman: The Secret Service. I know I plan to!

The laughs continue with the next video from our friends over at Martial Club. By all means, their specialty is exactly what their brand presents, which means they get a ton of inquiries about martial arts and their latest video covers a very important topic, hilariously spoofing an example of exactly the kind of learning environment you ought to avoid. Alas, it’s time to Enter The McDojo with Andy Le, Daniel Mah and the one and only Brian Le!

Master Ken, you may have just met your match!

And finally, if you’re curious to learn more about the latest feature work from actors Emmanuel Manzanares, Jose Montesinos and Sari Sabella in the upcoming Hong Kong action comedy homage, Unlucky Stars, my recent review should make for a good testimony. Beyond that, there are two final videos to this list: The first is Manzanres‘s latest via LBP Stunts Chicago, 挑战者 (CHALLENGER), an electrifying test fight short of epic proportions bringing together LBP’s own Shawn Bernal with action actors Aaron Toney and EMC Monkey’s own Malay Kim. The second and last, though far from least, is Montesinos‘s newest online gem, Sour Cream with performances by Sabella and Janna Davi. Principally it’s not action-related, but it is as entertaining as Montesinos‘s work has always been, ans as I saw fit, there was no way I was NOT going to sharing it. You’ll just have to watch and see why.

CLICK HERE to view last week’s Hit List in case you missed it. Otherwise, subscribe to the channels above stay tuned in for next week’s Hit List. If you or someone you know has QUALITY content you would like to share on Film Combat Syndicate, e-mail me at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com