Having waited this long to post another installment of the Hit List, I couldn't pass up another opportunity to share some of the holiday joy making way online in lieu of all things Christmas for those who celebrate or accomodate it in some capacity. Thus, January 8 is still my official return of this weekly column of treats from the stunt and independent film community, but...'tis the season!
Counting down the action, we ring in the week with an amazing selection of stunt reels by some of today's top and rising stunt players and action actors. The almighty Joseph Le heads it all off courtesy of his newest reel as the headliner of Team Red Productions followed by reels from Aaron Toney, Alice Rietveld, Chris Lafferty, Kaitlyn Hiller, Julie St. Louis, John Nania and the veracity, charm and prowess of Ms. Amy Johnston, with Blake Lindsell, Ciprian Florian, Thomas Watson and Dominque Smith, and a worthwhile dose of freerunning to showcase courtesy of the "Lucky" Calen Chan!
We'll get to the action soon enough, but I thought I'd take the time to highlight a music video I didn't get a chance to absorb last month before it accrued its double-digit millions of views - a number that speaks greatly to recording artist Post Malone's success alongside 21 Savage for director Emil Nava's latest video, rockstar. Film Combat Syndicate favorite Jimmy Chhiu coordinates the action central to the video's samurai theme, drenched in copious amounts of fake blood leaving no one unstained.
NSFW warnings and all regarding lyrics and violent imagery, etc. Enjoy!
And the beat goes on with a rosuing playlist full of indie action and practice fight fare starting with Stephen Koepfer and Paul Varacchi at Breakfall Studios. We continue from there with a pair of test fights by Federico Berte at Berte Productions featuring Marissa Labog leading off a superhero-themed action scene opposite Berte and fellow stuntman Ben Hinnant, and Haga Akihiro and Dan Carter getting in their slice of the action with some swordplay this week.
From there we continue with a pair of montage gun choreography videos led by Kefi Abrikh over at AC Stunts. We also have a trio of stellar pre-viz fight sequences, the first of which comes courtesy of Matt Mullins for Underworld 5 with Alicia Vela-Bailey and Adam Lytle. Larnell Stovall brings on the second and third of that roster, firstly outlining some key fight action for Kickboxer: Vengeance with Bryan Cartago and Jeremy Marinas, followed by some tactical first-person action designed by Emmanuel Manzanares and Thayr Harris. Vlad Rimburg continues the festive brutality with a delightful inspired Black Panther work-up shepherded by Gui DaSilva in all-black and in proper superhero fashion ahead of Marvel's own MCU release. Dave Macomber and James Hutchison continue the superheroics with a spectacular non-profit Titans speculative pre-viz video of their own and you are more than welcome to read more about the video's development in the description of its actual link, courtesy of Macomber.
The playlist then finally gets into the holiday spirit with a quartet of delightful action comedy shorts to enjoy this season and we begin with director and co-star Kyle Murillo's latest, The Fight Before Christmas, starring Nik Nieves who also provides a fitting narration next to his performance with Omar Zaki lensing. The aforementioned Joseph Le steps up next as a disgruntled elf taking a coked-up Santa to task in the latest gift from Team Red, followed by more grievances against dear St. Nick from Kent Lloyd's brilliant iteration as The Grinch for the Skeggoms Fighting Force YouTube channel, and a cliffhanger of a confrontation as seen in Here Comes Santa Claus from Greene Monster Stunts with Derek Russo in the title role (I probably shared this one on the fourth this month but...whatever. It's Christmas 😊).
Last and FAR from least is the recent action drama shortfilm release from the good folks at Rising Tiger Films with Benny The Bruiser, a cold blooded romantic crime noir about a hoodlum who attempts to run away with his boss's girl... only there's nothing romantic about this love story, past the brutal fisticuffs and pound-for-pound fight scenery by Edmond Shum and director and co-star Leroy Nguyen.
Endulge and enjoy to your heart's desire!
Remember, January 8 is our official return date. Hit ya later, and Happy Holidays! 🤘
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