The Effect
This is pretty much a 20-30 minute any card at any number routine, where you go through most of the deck when the card and number is called. You can see the full routine here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_oa8m5Oq00" target="_blank" target="_blank
Cost
£130 - ouch, very expensive but it is a full routine you are getting.
Difficulty
4 im giving this a 4 because some of the sleights are hard but nothing you cant do with practise. You need to be familiar with false cuts and false shuffles. Anyone with a healthy experience in sleight of hand cards or gambling magic will already know most of the slights so will find it easier.
Review
This is the first DVD ive bought where I have been just as impressed with the method as I have had with the effect. Its simply amazing and inspired.
The first of the 4 dvd’s is the main presentation of his work, its the routine linked to above. He does it with a woman picked from the audience in a very nice setting. It all adds up to a nice atmospheric show thats enjoyable and funny. But it runs pretty much exactly the same as his live show, nothing added nothing taken away. If you have seen the youtube link you have seen it all.
Next up comes 6 hours of demonstration of the effects. Firstly he shows you how its done, step by step with the show running on a seperate screen. He explains it all in real time in basic detail, this is great for the experienced magician. No need to sit through it all when you know how to do most of it.
The rest of the DVD’s show in great detail how everything is done, its designed for anyone to be able to do the effects. It’s very good at it too, if there is a very difficult slight he shows you other ways of pulling off the effect. Its all very easy to follow with multi camera angles including an under the table view.
There is a DVD full of his favourite tricks which include both a performance and the method. Id imagine most people are already familiar with these as they are things like the three shell game and coins through table. Good but not a deal breaker really.
Towards the end there are documentary style interviews, a kind of getting to know the man style stuff. To be honest although they are very well made they are a bit c*** (not the best).
Overall
Overall this is an excellent package for the experienced sleight of hand magician. For me its a little too difficult to pull off without many hours of practise. I did expect more for £130 though, maybe more shows or routines. But then it is enough information and method to make a routine out of.
I really cant decide whether this offers value for money or not, it is very expensive but it is an inspired volume of work that you could earn a good living off.
Ill give it 4/5 and its only missing out of the full 5 because it is expensive.