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James Brown :: Professional Opportunist Vol 1

Possibly one of the most anticipated DVD’s by me this year. James Brown is one of the cleverest modern day magicians and everything he touches, he steals. RSVP have taken on an ambitious project, releasing a set of DVD’s which are highly sought after by magicians but what a cracking job they have done.

So firstly, The material on this DVD is made for card magician’s with the mentalist, pickpocket and hypnotist in mind. Touching every aspect of what a performance should be and then picking each thing apart so it is the very best that it can be. I was incredibly excited when I learnt about the release of the set and admit that perhaps my expectations were so high that no degree of brilliance could have met my needs. But it did that perfectly. It was everything I’d thought of and more.

RSVP (Russ Stevens) has done a stunning job on this DVD. Its quality is superb. Several camera angles during the explanations, crystal clear filming and of course perfect live performances. Everything is sleek and simple. It’s bursting with incredible ideas and insightful performance tips. Everyone is credited brilliantly and the odd inside joke is shared.

James first begins with several performances of the first effect “Box Clever”. An extension of James previous works. The card under box is one piece of magic that James truly owns, taking this a step further with a brilliant piece of simple, clever and practical magic. The effect is essentially a card under box, card under box, Deck under box, Card in box and followed with the finally, deck inside box. The methodology is really cool, mixing some different methods to create possibly the most workable card under box routines around. The best part? James has built all of the misdirection in for us. He talks in depth on how to perform this on the hands of the spectator and discusses every tiny spec of paint that makes this affect a beautiful piece of art. Everything is executed with precision and really is a worker.

This is then followed into by a couple of brilliant real world performances of the next effect “ITHWICH”. It is essentially a take on the sandwich card plot but with some brilliant psychological advances. James has a brilliant way of combining normal magic plots with well known psychological techniques to create not just a “Magic Trick”, but a complete experience for the spectators. This is a perfect example of such genius. Even as a standalone card effect, it’s brilliant. Watching the performance, I was fooled completely. The methodology is brilliant thinking and so simple. James makes the spectators hands affix to each other with 2 cards inside. They cannot undo their hands at all. Somehow the cards are causing their hands to be clamped shut. This is an old idea but James’ combination with the card effect makes it by far the most practical version of the effect. Guaranteeing you a brilliant effect whether it works or not. It works virtually all of the time but James of course covers every area of the effect, even if it doesn’t go to plan.

James is very brave with the next effect. He is playing with a classic of magic and something the most magicians all ready use and love, the ever popular Omni Deck. We all know the brilliant reactions we get from this effect; James throws us into why he has created this brilliant version of the Omni Deck. What I personally LOVED about this effect was that he utilised the Omni Deck in a different way whilst keeping the traditional styled effect. Also using the interesting angle properties with the inside of the Omni Deck which really makes this effect a whole different ball game. Having a card selected and signed. The card is placed to one side. The magician then places the deck in their hand and proceeds to penetrate their hands with the signed card. He then makes is possible for them to look through the deck and see their card. They open their hand and the deck has turned into a black of glass, In the centre of the block is their signed card. Trapped in the walls of plastic. He then pulls the card throw the plastic and hands it back to be examined. Brilliant! Not much more to say. It’s a brilliantly put together piece with an awesome method which I’ve never thought about with the Omni deck. A real worker.

One interesting fact that came out of this DVD is that James has been caught three times. Caught with his trousers very much around his ankles. I jest. Of course this is the name of his next effect “Caught Three Times”. This is another stunning version of the sandwich routine. This is one of the very best spectator controlled sandwich routine I’ve come across. Everything is so unbelievably fair. It looks like you’re doing nothing to influence the deck. The effect is, two kings are put to one side. Three spectators select a card freely and each are put back into the deck by the spectators. James has the spectator put the two kings somewhere in the middle of the deck and with no funny business hands it to spectator one. He has them imagine their card adjusting in the deck until it is sandwiched inside the kings. They deck is spread and sure enough one card is sandwiched. The card is out jogged and the deck immediately handed to the second spectator. The first card is turned over and sure enough, it’s the selected card. Spectator 2 does the same thing. Of course, her card is now sandwiched. The last card is done completely by the spectator. They square the deck, imagine the card adjusting, spread the deck and take out the card. The method is so simple but brilliantly put together with patter. Officially my favourite spectators sandwich routine.

Back to the psychological tom foolery, “Reverse Engineering”. This is the only effect on DVD 1 which was a little bit of a throw away effect. None the less, a brilliant piece of magic that could work its way into a routine and work wonders. Essentially a thought of card in pocket, the thinking is brilliant. Everything with this effect relies on the subtleties. There’s not much more I’m going to say with this effect. It’s direct, simple and about as slick as possible.

Now for the effect that I’m guessing most people are interested in. “Cerebral Steal”. This is the effect that made me want the DVD’s. How on earth do you have them think of any one of 52 cards, name it and pre predict it, with nothing written down, a free selection and nothing fishy what’s so ever. If you could read someone’s mind, this is how it would look. This is just the cream of the crop. This one effect is worth the DVD 3 times over. Pure mentalism gold! Those non mentalists will be doing this effect to. It is essentially an easy effect to achieve. Those of you worried about its success rate. Please don’t. Whatever happens, James has ensured it will be an amazing piece of magic. I’ve tried it out a couple of times today. I’ve performed similar things before but never quite as ingenious as this. He shows you a live performance in which it went wrong. But the reactions at the end were still stunning. The discussions at the end are so in depth it’s unreal. Every aspect of this trick has been picked apart to the very core of its being. It’s just a wonderful piece of magic to perform.

What I also love about this DVD is that during the performances, James fuses some effects together. He doesn’t always tech what he performance but it’s just a wonderful thing to see how he fuses everything together to make everything flow. The possibilities with putting these things together in a routine is wonderful.
This is DVD is one of the best in my vast DVD collection. I really enjoyed watching it and as soon as funds appear, I’ll be picking up Vol 2 and will defiantly review it for you to. I cannot wait to dive in and I really recommend this.

“This DVD is brilliantly produced, packed full of stunning magic and discussions. I cannot wait to get hold of Vol 2 and I whole heartedly recommend it to all you magicians, mentalists, pickpockets and hypnotists. Pure brilliance”.

***** 500/5

Available from www.rsvpmagic.com

Jamie Daws

Good review - but why did you start a new thread rather than add on the existing one?

Note from Mods: Agreed, please always add to an existing thread, it all helps to achieve a balanced assessment for prospective purchasers.