THE HIT LIST - August 31, 2015

This week's Hit List was an absolute blast to help put together. We've got new action shorts and reels of all kinds to snack on this week in addition to some brief updates on major projects that are forthcoming!

For now though, let's face it: The only way I'm starting off this Hit List is if I do it with one of the most popular videos online to date, and if you're a Jason Statham fan, you'll understand. It's a supercut of every single punch Statham has ever thrown. Ever. And it needs no further introduction than that.

Beneath that will be the week's stunt playlist with a slew of action, stunt and training reels by Noah Fleder, Awaken star Natalie Burn, stuntman Djibril Newik Chase, independent filmmaker Shahaub Roudbari, Mirkos Radas, John Renyolds, Uros Certic, Amiee Zannoni, Cornered webseries co-star, actor Bobby Hernandez and action actor Angel Vasquez.

Now we get to brings things here into focus just a bit with the latest installment of actor and Ameritoku mainstay Jason David Frank's online doc series, My Morphin Life. For this, we venture into a behind-the-scenes look into the spectacular episode featuring Frank and action actors Peter Jang and Alvin Hsing in the epic duel between the Green Ranger and legendary Street Fighter character Ryu. As always, these things come with a few snags and Frank sure had his, but it didn't stop him from powering through. Check it out!

Up next are a couple of other new director reels featuring a small variety of things, including action. The first comes with great revere for French action director Godefroy Ryckewaert who never ceases to impress, and his latest trailer for the new shortfilm, Hiro, samples that fact quite a bit with Alex Duong starring as a man forced back into the Yakuza underworld in order to save his daughter. Hiro is set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival which kicks off on September 10, and you can purchase your ticket by clicking right here for the screening.

The second video comes from Canadian cascadeur, actor and filmmaker Taz Garcia in the form of First Bust, a story of two odd couple undercover cops well on their way to their first major arrest, as long as they don't get in each other's way, and you can imagine the hilarity that ensues. The project was initially going to be a two-minute short story which eventually expanded into something slightly longer when more people got involved, and as it stands, it could very well present a meaty concept for television if things go favorably.

Check out both videos below!

Up next is a bit of a teaser from the folks over at EMC Monkeys who have been very busy working on their own individual projects and other obligations in the past couple of years. Such things tend to get in the way of content creation which is what they've largely been known for, and now the team's teaser is officially circulating online with a number of exciting new projects that are either completed, still being filmed or already in post, including an upcoming collaboration with Corridor Digital, as well as the long-awaited Evolution Of Fight series, Vs. Ninjas series, and the upcoming Nerf Cops tete-a-tete sequel with the first part arriving on Friday, September 4 upon which fans can expect even more content every week thereafter. (If you haven't seen the first Nerf Cops installment yet, your chance to do so is right here).

Also up for viewing are two other new director reels, including Desciple's latest reel full of action and dialogue gems, with snippets from two of his latest hyper-reality action shorts, Hetja and Hetja 2; The latter title is also being groomed for a possible award win at this year's Action On Film Festival with acting nominations for two of its lead performers, Disavowed webseries star Will Yick, and The Stunt People's own Bridger Fox.

The second reel comes from Darren Holmquist of Dardrex Productions with a new director's reel full of long-awaited goods that are pending with planned releases before the end of 2015.

Time to pepper thing up a bit with some fighting, and following Holmquist's production reel is a fresh new fight featuring himself opposite Leonard Zhang, proceeded by some sweet Karambit/Gun choreo from director Evan Taylor, a quick little scene of action from Rising Tiger Films's own Leroy Nguyen and Edmond Shum, and a superb test fight from Jay Kwon with Alex Meglei and Brett Easton.

And lastly, it's been a long and incredible journey for independent filmmaker and film student Anthony Pellino for his latest labor of love, Mortal Kombat: The Chosen One. Inspired by the popular fighting game of the same name, and featuring fight design by Cinematic Fight Studio's own Lawrence Yip, this one takes a slightly derivative approach to the source material. Jonathan Lee, David Chen and Craig Zisel are joined by lead actor Kage Yami in the role of former Shaolin monk, Liu Kang who is about to receive the most unexpected visit of his life.

Pellino's goal was originally to create something more than a fan film, which is why it took so long to finish, aside from school, two crowdfunders, reshoots and other hurdles. Fan film or not, a project like this is just what we need to help keep the pulse beating among fans as a new webseries season is still pending, in addition to further details regarding the revived hopes for a film as recently as the top of last month. It's a great case for more similar content with dozens of characters to experiment and play with, and I hope this isn't the last we see from the creative field we have today in that regard.

Mortal Kombat: The Chosen One can now be viewed on YouTube in the player below, as well as on Vimeo!

Further worth mentioning is the current completion post-production of independent action director Eric Nguyen with the new short, Of Martial Arts And Men, with a September airing planned, and it just so happens that his Spring actioner, El Guerrero, has been nominated with a mention among a slew of other shortfilms for this year's Action On Film Festival which kicks off on September 18 through 26.

Other news includes the upcoming comic-book fan film sequel, Black Panther And Deadpool: The Gauntlet, which just finished filming over the weekend, and a trailer can be viewed here as well in case you missed it. In addition, further pending are updates for Robot Underdog's forthcoming episodes for the Dragon Ball Z: Light Of Hope webseries with actor Tim Neff (Flowers Of The Night) set to play Trunks. Major creative differences have currently invoked restructuring of the original script, Dragon Ball Z enthusiast and former series writer Derek Padula who made his case in a recent blog post after announcing his departure from the project; As pot-stirring as these things tend to be, the least we can do is hope for a great sequel after this year's stellar offering, which you can check out here.

Indeed, this week is another loaded one with more to come, and hopefully you've been able to keep up with all the craziness as last week's Hit List is just as awesome. Beyond that, subscribe to the channels above and by all means, if you or someone you know creates exciting, QUALITY content, just hit us with an e-mail filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com.

Screener Review: AWAKEN (2015)

REVIEW:

Seldom do I have the chance to see survival thrillers and I always welcome them as part of my film enjoyment, especially if the trailer convinces me enough. Certainly, it has done so with the presence of actress, writer and producer Natalie Burn who puts every piece of herself into her latest role in Mark Atkins' new film, Awaken, which already has just under a dozen wins and one nomination stemming from its film festival run in the past several months.

The film sets our leading lady in the role of Billie Kope, alone on a quiet beach front on a remote island far from civilization. Briefly disoriented and her clothes mildly disheveled, she wakes up and emerges into the jungle wilderness only to find herself accompanied by seven other strangers being chased by men in camouflage. Soon it becomes clear that this is no island paradise as Kope acquaints herself with her fellow island dwellers as they desperately try to figure out who is holding them against their will, and why. However, Kope has a few ideas of her own as she's been searching for her missing sister for five years, and the harder she fights for freedom, the closer she gets to the answers she seeks along with the gruesome nature of her captors' true intentions.

Writer and director Atkins spearheads this latest feature from Burn's own film banner, 7Heaven Productions, which also brings together a few other well known antagonists, like actor Jason London who plays Rich, a corrupt doctor whose shady specialty is what drives the very motive of our heroine's personal mission, as well as her own survival and that of her crew. Vinnie Jones portrays, Sarge, the pointman of his own small squadron of jungle commandos in charge of rounding up one survivor at a time at any given point at Rich's behest, while actress Daryl Hannah offers her portrayal of Mao, something of an otherwise rich and powerful crimeboss who arrives to Rich's island headquarters grieving and desperate to cure her ailing daughter.

On the other side, our principle island survivors don't stand out much with the exception of actor Michael Copon in the role of Nick, along with Daz Crawford as Stitch, a would-be British SAS soldier, and actor Phillip Tan who doesn't always get a lot of screen time in films but always manages to make it work, and here just as so in the small role of Todd whilst serving as the film's fight coordinator. Actor Edward Furlong sort of disappears halfway in the film, but not before throwing in a few much-needed comedic gems as former Mexican prison inmate, Berto, who is always ready to make friends, especially if they're gorgeous women, and veteran thesp Robert Davi gives us one of the film's few pivotal performances as the grisled and withered leader of the tribe, Quentin. Other notable performances come courtesy of actors David Keith, Michael Paré and actress Christa Campbell who plays Rina, Rich's right hand woman.

To be forthright, the story is well-paced between much of the action, harrowing high-seas danger and some of the more gory macabre imagery toward the end. More prevalent beyond this point, however, is the drama and upheaval between our antagonists and a few other characters that come with shades of grey to make the plot more interesting; London gives one of the film's strongest and memorable performances along with Davi, Hannah, Paré in his limited screentime, and even Jones whose appearance does plenty of justice for fans delighted by his usual cockney dialect and salty, seasoned look.

At the heart of it all, collectively, the film opens plenty of doors for Burn to showcase her acting skills in accordance with her own physical traning and prowess. Her evolution throughout the story is almost entirely well-balanced between the action, drama and even a bit of the small romantic subtext she shares with Copon from time to time. As for the action, the fights are few and far between but when they occur, Burn shines brightly. Exchanges between knives, fisticuffs and full-out brawling outline much of the choreography and Burn delightfully fits right in, and much to her credit with various flashback sequences featuring Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, that help originate her character's skills.

Just a few of the film's scenes midway throughout do get a little taut and contrived after a while, which is imaginable for a film that often stays contained mostly in one setting. Other than that, Awaken presents a workable story that provides an enjoyable feature-length run for an audience more keen nowadays on action movies drawn toward strong female roles.

The film is easily an introduction for many not too familiar with Burn until now, though those with a good eye may have quickly spotted her on the big screen in last year's The Expendables 3. It was my foray into Burn's filmic skillset in addition to her musicianship as she also sings for the film's soundtrack. Conclusively, Burn is the whole package here, and I personally hope that with Awaken and the momentum she gathers from the film's warm festival reception, that it lands her bigger roles in the near future.

Arc Entertainment is releasing Awaken in the U.S. on DVD July 7.

Natalie Burn Takes On An Island Of Killers In The Latest Trailer For AWAKEN

Films like The Condemned and Escape Plan come to mind when watching the latest trailer for Mark Atkins's newest survival thriller, Awaken, which pits a random group of captives on a secluded island against a swarm of killers in a sinster plot to hunt them for their organs.

Actress Natalie Burn stars and also produces and wrote the screenplay, and she displays some pretty good physical prowess based on the footage below; Point in fact, she appears briefly in last year's The Expendables 3 alongside Mel Gibson and I never would have suspected it was her, so I'm glad she stands out much more this time around in such a strong female role, and I certainly hope to see more of her in the long run as well.

Actress Daryl Hannah gives her latest sinister performance to date as the villainess alongside Jason London, and actors Vinnie Jones and Robert Davi who are always fun to see. And as with every blue moon that appears, so does actor Edward Furlong who also joins the cast in their daring efforts for survival.

Check it all out below and keep your eyes peeled for a release!