THE HIT LIST - August 17, 2015

Well, Monday night has arrived and I pretty much consider myself well-rested seeing as how I ended up back in blogger-mode on Sunday night. Some days you burn out, and on others you just start clicking...it's funny, really.

Anyway, with our return to the start of a new week, the Hit List is back just as well, lending nods to a meaty handful of stunt professionals every week in attribution to their hard work shown in reels and shortfilms alike. Alas, the new stunt reel playlist for the week is now up and running with reels by Donovan Sheehan, Boris Martinez, Marco Pancrazi, an awesome action reel by Raze co-star Allene Quincy, Jacob Sebastian Malm's latest reel featuring his Turandot stunt team from the summer in an illuminous new fire showreel, and actor David Sakurai in a new Vimeo-exclusive action reel of his own assembled from several of his recent action projects, including Dark Samurai and Echoes Of A Ronin!

David Sakurai Way of the Sword from サクライ on Vimeo.

Now onto more web content with some more specials, and if you were watching the last reel carefully, you may have recognized Andy Le who can also be seen among his principle team members at Martial Club in a new video up and running by Just Kidding Films where they learn all the ins and outs of Tricking. And if you know Just Kidding Films, you know your face is going to hurt plenty by the end. Enjoy in all it's delightful laughs!

I seldom spot fan videos, although when I do, quite a handful of them present just the right amount of flair attributed to the respective works they acknowledge. It's a case in no way dissimilar in actress and stuntwoman PeiPei Alena Yuan's latest love letter to martial arts action star Donnie Yen by way of the opening B-Boy sequence in Yuen Woo Ping's 1995 Hong Kong action comedy, Mismatched Couples. Yuan also happens to be a dancer, and her credentials notwithstanding (i.e. Step Up 3D, Battle B-Boy), her talent speaks for itself. Watch and leasrn!

Now let's get into some more action-oriented material with a nifty handful of trailers - one including some updated and rather crazy cool poster art as of late.

Aside from making other videos, Rising Tiger Films's latest, Black Scar Blues, has clearly been a more concentrated effort at something larger in scale. The film is directed by Leroy Nguyen who stars along with Edmund Shum and Queen Sayat, and focuses on two drug traffickers whose bond of friendship is slowly eroded through a series of events when personal ambition, lust and greed get in the way.

Nguyen will be presenting the film later this year at the Urban Action Showcase and Expo in New York City for the last of its year-long festival run boasting a slew of laurels and accolades well-earned, including as recently as the past two weekends in California at An Anti-Hero Production Genre Film Festival and The L.A. Neo Noir Film And Script Festival. Hopefully by then, the short will be released on YouTube unless it acquires a decent on-demand or purchase platform beforehand. In the meantime, it's got a fresh new trailer now running online with an updated poster, and once more, it has a quote. By me! And you're welcome.

We also have a new behind-the-scenes featurette with Nguyen explaining the four year-long process in working up to the high creative plateau presented for the film's final fight. Having seen it for myself, I have to say it really does deliver the desired effect.

Other trailers just beneath include the second promo for Dance Nocturnal creative Jyo Carolino's new action short, I Am Spartan, Tokyo-based action actor Chuck Johnson's upcoming surreal action comedy short, Fists Of Absinthe, and 3 Strands Of Rope Productions's Assassin/Darkside, sequelizing actor Calvert David Miles's 2014 awarded short, Assassin: Origins.

New short action vids are also circulating the web this week, and kicking this next leg off on the Hit List is League Of Legends themed short, Udyr's School Of Kung Fu, initially released back in May from Art School Dropouts and Fighting Panda Productions. Actor and fight choreographer Joey Min leads this one and its one adding to his resume of years of awesome action shorts and films, which makes it all the more awesome and honoring that he's now a part time contributor to Film Combat Syndicate to provide his perspective of action on film from time to time.

Check it out below as well as other new action projects this week, including Narayana Cabral's Spy Vs. Spy with Angela Bend and Danielle Stahl, the long-awaited release, Grave Error featuring Darren Holmquist and the one and only Eric Jacobus, and...well, probably the sickest Mortal Kombat fan short you'll ever see online..ever. And if you know RackaRacka, you know this ain't gonna no PG-13 shit. So consider yourself forewarned!

Finally, a few new action shorts have also been unveiled this week in slightly longer duration. Azi Rahman's cerebral action thriller, Drake is now online starring Cengiz Dervis in the role of a man trapped in his own mind amid spiritual battle with inner-demonic forces. The action is largely fueled by the music for a more dramatic affect so don't expect any foley effects as the stuntwork is solely visual.

And last but not least, gladly continuing the vision of R-rated superhero fanfare with brutal and gory action sequences is the latest sequel offering from Workhorse Pictures, Storms Of Carnage: The Black Panther Unleashed Part 2. Actor and director D.A. Jackson reprises his role once more opposite K. Jackson in a story of espionage, betrayal and the moral paradox that arises when battling evil, ultimately pitting the Black Panther against opponents on both sides of the spectrum, humans and mutants alike.

Fans familiar with the source material may either love or hate this one depending on the viewer as these things normally tend to be slightly more controversial than intended (see Adi Shankar's Power/Rangers). For what it's worth though, this one has quite the admirable traits for something truly worth the enjoyment as it's full of special effects, explosive action and dramatic intensity to accomodate the epic final fight between our embattled couple.

Twenty minutes and counting, folks. Press play and enjoy!

There is at least another short that I haven't gotten around to yet as it's forty minutes long and dated only by about few years, but I will share that one next week. For now though, if you have time to kill then last week's Hit List may be worth your remaining minutes at the moment. Above all else however, do subscribe to the channels above, and if you or someone you know makes awesome, QUALITY action and stunt reels, films and shorts like these, send them to us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!

THE HIT LIST - March 2, 2015

Oh look! More videos. It's funny, really. I always expect to run short every week and I usually end up with at least 20 or more. This week I'm just shy of a few and I wouldn't be surprised if I missed any. Some of these gems are not easily detectable through simple searches.

Anyway, let's get this list started with some tricking and stunting reels! Martial Club founding member Andy Le's is up first and while this isn't his first appearance in a Hit List article, it probably won't be the last. The reel slate also includes stuntmen Brian Ho, Alfred Hsing, Daniel Graham, Vincent DeComo Helvetic Tricking's latest feats within lush Swiss locales, a Bear Grylls Adventure segment featuring Greek traceur, Maria Raptaki!, and some kickass GoPro training with Hong Kong fight choreographer, Pound Of Flesh action director John Salvitti!

Brian Ho - Stunt Demo 2015 from Brian Ho on Vimeo.

Alrighty, time to put the dukes up...

Robot Underdog's Dragonball Z: Light of Hope became an online hit last week Tuesday upon its de layed release, which was quite fortunate considering the premise of the short and its date marking the 22nd anniversary of Ueda Yoshihiro's Dragon Ball Z: The History Of Trunks. At any rate, the short, starring Anton Bex and Jack Wald became an online hit acquiring well over 4 million views in just a couple of days, with immense press coverage that was nothing short of uproaringly positive. You would be wise to see it for yourself as it has now being touted as the solid go-to playbook on adapting Dragon Ball to film for Hollywood directors. In the meantime, a new making-of featurette is now online for you to check out as of last week with speaking segments by fight choreographer Lohan Buson and stunt coordinator Tim Storms. Watch below!

As far as short film trailers go, this one looks like a real treat. Following the celebrated debut of his 2013 shortfilm drama, Alone, London-based writer and director Richard Kattah's next is definitely geared toward fight fans in the forthcoming short action drama, Untamed. The story centers on Alfie, a cocky pugilist with a troubled past who works his way up in the underground fighting circuit only to bare witness to the betrayals of those he thought he could trust.

The project initially launched a crowdfunder back in May of last year which fell short of its goal. Fortunately Kattah's efforts to see this project through are now granting it a May 2015 release, and the newest trailer will hopefully peak your interest as it has mine.

Espionage, action, drama and comedy are the formula you can now sample in director Joseph Torrez's latest webseries pilot installment, Spies. Torrez executive produces and is writing the series centered on a group of agents on their adventures to save the world, and there is currently a crowdfunder ongoing to help fund what Torrez hopes will grant him a fifteen-to-twenty episode season.

To help generate interest, a Pilot episode was recently unveiled and you can now check it out just beneath, as well as a behind-the-scenes look you can watch by CLICKING HERE. Otherwise, feel free to hit up the official Spies Facebook page to learn more about the show and how you can help!

Up next is a new interpretive action shorts from the folks over at EMC Monkeys titles Dreadnaught, an experimental look into how a fight scene with quick cuts can still work without shaking the camera. EMC has been at this stuff for quite a while and as always, one can only hope the team gets its day with a budget to apply its craft into a full feature. They really deserve it.

Watch Dreadnaught below with Hollywood stuntman Stephen Oyoung and EMC's own Robert Dill.

Yasin Kamat and Teambay's own Vi-Dan Tran's latest short is a bit of a tease, but it's still fun to watch. The short is called Addicted, featurning a small story with our two actors as underworld characters in a drug deal gone wrong - a perfect set up for a nice little fight but...like a said, there is a bit of a cliffhanger. Check it out below and enjoy!

While we await further info on what CBS's upcoming TV adaptation of the 1998 action comedy, Rush Hour will entail, it's interesting that there is nary a fan fight based on this particular franchise which further helped ascend action star Jackie Chan to Hollywood fame. That said, stuntmen, actors Chris Jai Alex and Terry Taneie have put together a little short of their own in the respective performances as Detectives Carter and Lee. This was pretty well done and I enjoyed Alex's performances as I suppose its difficult to mimic actor and comedian Chris Tucker's comedic persona. Peep it below!

The next is a short, but otherwise TASTY exchange between Narayana Cabral and Hope LaVelle in a small short titled The Challenge. I absolutely loved how this was shot in certain portions, as well as some of the choreography involved. Very imaginative work on Cabral's part, and apparently its the first part of an entire project with more to come. Take a look!

And last but not least, respect the turtleneck! Actor and filmmaker Jose Montesinos takes the lead with co-director Brett Stillo in the retro action comedy short, Sensitive 70's Turtleneck Tough Guys! I had the opportunity to review the short myself a short while back, but its finally online now, with performances by Montesinos, and action actors, The Stunt People's own Eric Jacobus and Troy Carbonel as three superbad detectives in the 1970s embracing their sensitivity. Trust and believe...you're gonna dig it. Ain't no bull here.

Subscribe to these channels above and stay tuned for next week's Hit List, and be sure to CLICK HERE for last week's entries. If you have a QUALITY action project in the form of a teaser, trailer or shortfilm you would like featured, send us an email at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!