Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Somebody to Love By Jefferson Airplane

This DVD is dedicated to using duplicate cards. A compilation of effects where 'dupes' are involved.

First before I dive in, let me remind the readers that the last time I reviewed a DVD starring these same two guys (Chris Congreave and Gary Jones), I didn't give it a very good rating due to poor production quality mostly. Additionally, I mentioned a few things about Mr. Congreave and his interaction with Mr. Jones that were not well received by Congreave.

You can read that review here: Flying Tonight.

As you can see, I was pretty harsh on the DVD production and on Concreave's interaction on the DVD.

In this new DVD, ALL Production Problems have been solved. Excellent camera work . . . excellent lighting (I'd expect nothing less from BBM). As for Mr. C and his interaction . . . well . . . it was much better than the previous DVD. He was mic'd, so I could definitely hear him and understand him. His performance portion of the DVD was fine and he contributed some cool ideas.

There were still some moments where Jones was trying to explain something or present something and Congreave's goofing around seemed to be starting to wear on Jones. But I may have misread that.

Annoyances (or lack of them) aside, this DVD is pretty darn solid. Below you'll find the effects listed with my short Commentary and the star rating.

Nearly CAAN (Rating: 3-4 Stars):

The effect is pretty solid. However, the method, while allowing some very clean handling, requires you to carry around a special deck to do this one effect. If you don't mind that, then this is 4 star routine. However, if you do mind that, then it's a 3 star routine.

Kicked Right Back (Rating: 4 Stars):

I like this effect and method. It uses a nice little subtlety that implies a change, but it implies the change in such a convincing manner that it's a thing of beauty. The basic effect is a sandwich effect with a twist. The spectator is given the two selections that were found between the two sandwich cards (the black queens) to hold. Then suddenly they become the queens in the spectator's hands and the magi has the selections.

Joker Surprise (Rating: 5 Stars):

Best trick on the DVD. The spectator picks the only non-joker out of a deck of 51 jokers. The plot is simple but Congreaves presentation of it was funny and suprising. I smiled and laughed out loud as the presentation progressed.

C2B (wih zilcho palm) (Rating: 4 Stars):

This is kind of like Dr. Daley's Last Trick Meets Between The Palms . . . sort of. It's a very cool and clean signed card to card box.

Packet Wallet (Rating: 2.5 Stars):

This is an ok trick. It's card to wallet where the whole deck goes instead of the selected card. Not a new plot, and not the best performance of the plot. I don't know that enough was added to warrant its inclusion on this DVD.

Pocket Aces (Rating: 4 Stars):

Though the handling was a little fidgety, the effect was pretty strong. Cards to spectator's pocket.

The Big Transpo (Rating: 2 Stars):

This one is just pretty much a standard two card transposition that was performed with no real presentation.

Jump Back Sandwich (Rating: 2 Stars):

This is a sandwich transposition with a signed card. Decent plot; nothing revolutionary, and the performance of it was very awkward and meaningless.

Sucker Deal (Rating: 3.5 Stars):

An awkward performance of a decent effect. It's kind of like Paul Harris's Whack Your Pack in its structure. Kind of . . . but not a 100%. It's a pretty good transposition that is cerebrally visual.

Box Sitter (Rating: 4 Stars):

Basically a version of Brother John Hamman's Your Signed Card. Not much is added. I'm not sure that this qualifies as different enough from the original to be included. However, the effect alone on its own merits is solid.

Pocket Interchange (3 versions) (Rating: 1 Star):

A very weak and transparent move is used to open the effect (in all three versions). It's a discrepancy move that does NOT fly.

Lee Smith's Predicto-Pocket (Rating: 3.5 Stars):

This is a fun effect which again is similar in plot to Between The Palms. I like the idea, and with some thought to presentation, this could be a solid piece. Personally, I would alter the handling too, but in general the effect is decent.

Hypno-tastic (Rating: 4.5 Stars):

This is another decent effect that has some serious presentational potential, and in the right hands, this can be a real performance piece that feels very much like mind reading and hypnosis.

Final Thoughts:

So as you can see, overall this is a pretty solid DVD. Take the average trick ratings (3.3) add to that some excellent (though not original) subtleties to make your 'dupe' work more convincing plus the fact that you get 13 effects plus a decent chunk of alternate handling and other ideas, and I feel good about giving this . . .

Final Verdict:
4 stars with a Stone Status of Gem.