Magic Tricks

I found this DVD not to be as great as it was hyped up to be for several reasons: Firstly the DVD itself holds some fiddly menus (not a big deal so just forget that one)

The main problems lie in Sankey's performances - Oz's live to an actual audience performances really helps aid the learner in how the presentation is actually done. Sankey basically talks you through what he WOULD do to a spectator in his performances which is neither fun to watch or helpful.
The actual explanations are nicely detailed which is what I expected, but everything is filmed in some room full of junk and Sankey always looks like he's about to go out somewhere when he's being filmed. His explanations aren't very well planned as you can tell when he cannot find the words to describe a move or technique in several places. Besides he isn't at all funny despite what I've heard and I'm not sure about his 'I'm a very important magician who's got places to be' attitude which you should pick up on.

As far as the effects are concerned they are all beautiful (don't expect to use all of them though) but there's actually only 27 (not the promised 28). Also annoying is the fact that there's not actually over 5 hours of magic because there's some annoying filler footage of uselesness (e.g. Sankey doing a 'false false' cut) Trust me you'll understand when you get it.

I found the majority of the 17 sleights to be pretty rubbish especially the colour changes (shangai change doesn't work even when Sankey does it it's terribly obvious). However his teachings on the classic pass and some of the other sleights are very much welcome.

The fact is if this were a set of DVD's for 30 dollars like most here at Penguin the routines and teaching would far outway the bad points of this DVD. But it's twice that much money. At some 60 dollars I feel the quality of these DVD's should be much higher and more thought out. Sure Sankey's offering very rare routines here - but it's all missing the finesse and quality that takes a DVD from 'good' to 'fantastic' - the something I've seen in Oz's born 2 perform and Gregory's On the Spot. And they're cheaper than Rev card magic!

If you have the money and are looking for some kicking (i wouldn't say killer, except for some) routines that are explained appropriately then by all means this excells at that. But if you've heard that Sankey is DA MAN and this DVD is the truly best purchase out there then you may want to think again at 60 bucks. You'll need to start buying decks in the box load if you're counting on getting most of these routines down. Definately for professional magicians methinks - or hobbiests with an incredible amount of time, money and willingness on their hands.

Bottom line is that the routines are just as advertised, they are quite ingenius. Am I happy with this pruchase? - I am, but that came with some dissapointments which overall will NOT stop this material from going into my next show!