THE HIT LIST: February 27, 2017 - The Best and Latest Movies

My weekend was a little laid back...managed to catch up on a little anime and some Lady Snowblood for fun. Classic!...

I also managed to finish a review for Franklin Correa's newest indie thriller, Lyco which you can read here. In the meantime, The Hit List is back for another round of stunt reels and shorts to promote for the week and we begin with Michelle C. Smith, delightfully one of the most active and involved people I know on social media so you definitely want to follow her links at the end of her reel.

We continue onward with the hard-hitting mo-cap stylings of actor and stuntman T.J. Storm, followed by reels from Frank Alfano, Steven Rummenie, William Bokan, Caitlin Huston, Rustic Bodomov, Spencer Thomas, Andrei Runtso, Max Laurin, Jessica Bennett, Ozzy Ramirez, Najmeddin Al Hadad, Mustafa Bulut and an explosive, kick-ass, dietary finish by action star Scott Adkins.

Next up is a small raft of promotional goods and the first comes courtesy of Canadian up-and-comer Kyle Wong who, in the company of indie banner Black Ice 140 and Action 88 Stunt Team, is now out and pitching his latest crowdfunding campaign for the new action thriller short, The Line, which you can learn more about at its Indiegogo page.

Following that is a trailer for...well... I mean did you know that action star and philanthropist Jet Li actually has his own YouTube channel? I did...sorta, but I guess it's only this year he's just emerging a bit more prevalently on it to help pitch his on-going causes for martial arts, health and wellness. As such, he's also spotlighting some major people in both film and martial arts in general, including professional fighter José Aldo, actor and martial artist Jacky Heung and stunt professionals Sam Looc and Alfred Hsing to name a few, and you can view their inteviews on his channel right now among other morsels of Jet Li goodness.

Last in the playlist is a newly crafted sizzle reel by Leif Johnson who dares to bring martial arts thrills and shortfilm madness to your screen. In an earnest effort to promote crowdfund his new shortfilm thriller, Kowloon Killers., his reel is now live and packed with footage encompassing all one could know and love about stylish Asian action cinema. Learn more about that just by clicking here.

Enjoy the goodies below!

Now we're on to a small raft of fights followed by a rightful revival of an excellent shortfilm worthy of your attention. Daniel and Kurt Nelson kick things off with a test fight of their own followed by a piece from Xavier Luo and Luis Perez, a one-shot fight experiment courtesy of Federico Berte and an ensemble beat 'em up test fight from Art School Dropouts. Dylan Hintz takes the next two spots first with a test fight of his own performer Brian Labay, along with a 20x20x20 group project featuring Hintz's own students courtesy of DC Stunt Coalition, Lee Chesley and Nikki Mae getting some kicks in with director Shaun Charney, Narayana Cabal lensing for 3-minute action short, Backwoods Beatdown with Jon Palmeri and Leo Giannopoulos, and Alfred Hsing's blistering new action-packed shortfilm, The Recruit, starring him along with lead actress Jennifer Tse.

Steven Tyler sang it best... Just Push Play!

Just nearing the end, we now turn to probably one of the best kung fu shortfilms you will ever see in your lifetime, and above all else, serves as a prequel to a greater effort already underway. The Challenger is the name and stars Andy Le and action director Ken Quitugua who will be lending his services as well for award-winning filmmaker Bao Tran's feature length advancement of the concept, The Paper Tigers, now the current subject of a major crowdfunding effort through non-profit portal, Fractured Atlas.

Believe me when I tell you, and I'm sure you know this if you follow movies often, of the persistent protest when it comes to fanboys pining for an original film. As such, it's moments like this where you really have to appreciate people like Tran and for the accolades he's achieved in film thusfar, and in lieu of a hopeful feature film establishment with The Paper Tigers, if The Challenger doesn't sell you, then I don't wanna hear another word about Hollywood running out of ideas... and don't even run your dissenting opinions by me about Joe Carnahan's adaptation of The Raid, for that matter. Period.

Help make a good thing happen and support Tran and his efforts. Check out The Challenger below and read up on The Paper Tigers to learn more about the project and how you can make this movie a reality.

As a significant matter of word of mouth, actor and martial artist Eric Jacobus is well on the way with his latest action comedy short, Blindsided this week. Hailing the premiere project for JB Productions, industry stunt professional Clayton J. Barber debuts at the helm for the story of a blind apple pie connoisseur who bumbles his latest testing and sets out to get more milk and apples, only to find himself in the crosshairs of a loanshark and his goons targeting the local clerk, played by Ron Yuan.

If you don't know who Eric Jacobus is, I guarantee that this is a mistake you'll regret making. Jacobus has been making shortfilms for up to about 20 years now and with an accumulating body of work that has gone on to earn the approval of many an action star and martial arts movie fan, Blindsided graciously presents another continuing example of his deserved acclaim. Jacobus's acumen for adaptability and acclamation toward patterns of movement equivalent to that of a blind person in conjunction with his natural screenfighting skill further him even more as one of the best performers that fans could ever want to see in front of a camera. Barber, with his experience, is a plus here as it demonstrates just how well balanced and effective their vision for cinema is and with the results seen in Blindsided, one can only hope that this will be a brand new milestone achievement toward greater prospects for the JB banner.

Blindsided premieres Wednesday, March 1 on YouTube and you can look forward to it in the player below once it goes live, so watch this space!

Last week's Hit List was an ample treat and you're more than welcome to take a look and catch up if you've missed anything. Apart from that, sub to the channels and show your support, and if you or someone you know has an excellent stunt and demo reel or shortfilm, or a teaser for a project that needs the audience of our weekly Hit List, hit us up at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!