Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: The Climb By Miley Cyrus. Yes; Miley Cyrus - Deal with it!

The review could end up being very long, but I'll try to keep it short. But even if it drags on, remember, that it ain't about how fast I get there; ain't about what's waiting on the other side; it's the climb!

Overall I liked this set of videos a lot. However, there are some issues that need to be addressed, but before I get there, let me point out that Michael Vincent is an excellent performer. He really brought me back and helped me feel like a lay person again. Not because I didn't know how the tricks were done - though there were many that did fool me - but because he really latched onto the classic principles, moves and effects and just mastered them to the point of darn near perfection.

He has a very like-able personality and a good stage presence, a true professional in every sense of the word, and he didn't once crack a hackneyed stock patter joke that I can recall. He didn't embarrass or mock or even tease his spectators, but rather, he embraced them (not literally) and connected with them.

Most of his effects had good presentational premises and had some level of meaning rather than the typical meaningless put-and-take that is so prevalent today. Mr. Vincent truly has respect for our art and its history. He was mentored by some great men, and I feel that he is now a guy that should be doing the mentoring. He's an incredible technician and just an excellent representation of what a good professional sleight of hand magician should be.

So we know that Vincent is Solid. What about the effects?

The effects were also incredible as was his delivery of them. There were many cases where I was totally blown away by how impossible some of these effects were. Just one example was his Intuition Speller. A borrowed deck that is thoroughly shuffled by the audience . . . Vincent takes the deck and does not alter the order, but merely begins spelling a card (by dealing one at a time) that he claims just popped into his head. When he finishes spelling the - let's say - Ace of Clubs, sure enough, the next card is the Ace of Clubs. It just seemed impossible.

Vincent's work on some classic moves that have been lost to the new 'hip' magicians of today is incredible. They're too busy trying pull their pants up to study this stuff. He has truly mastered some really great moves and effects that anyone would benefit from studying.

So, the effects are good; Vincent is good; what about the teaching segment?

Well . . . mostly this is solid. However, there are a few tricks that are just not taught in the teaching segments. Additionally, some of the moves and techniques were glossed over too quickly and not very clearly taught. The missing explanations and glossed over moves is a pretty big hit in my book.

The Effects and Vincent are solid. The explanations were pretty good; what about the production quality?

Well . . . there were some issues. In a few of the performance sections, you couldn't get the impact of the effect because the lighting was bad. Also, a minor annoyance was the fact that the opening teaser was very long, and in fact, it ended - or so I thought - with a full performance of an effect. Then when I thought they were going to cut to the explanation or move on to the next effect, the teaser continues on. Then after the teaser and a couple of effects, we are shown the full performance of the aforementioned effect again.

Also, the menus weren't as straight forward as they could've been. Further, there was a menu item in the bonus section of DVD #2 that was entitled 'Wild Card Plot.' However, when I clicked on it, it just went to a screen with text explaining that the DVD has a PDF on it that gives detailed credits for all of the effects found on the disk.

On the third disk there is only one routine. However there are some excellent interview segments as well as some good advice on learning magic in general. Vincent taps into the theories of the legends such as economy of motion and naturalness. In this segment, Vincent channels Slydini, Vernon and several others. The whole third DVD had very little tricks but was very magical. The interview segments for some reason really struck an emotional chord with me. They were powerful and meaningful and really brought me back to the 'good ol' days' of magic.

Finally, it's 3 disks for $70 that come packaged together in one box. Frankly, I think that all of the material could have fit onto one maybe two disks. However, these days, disks are running $35.00 each, so you're essentially getting three disks for the price of two.

Factoring in all the good and all the bad (not much bad), I think that this set is a series of disks that just about any skill level can benefit from having in their library.

Final Verdict:
4 stars with a Stone Status of GEM!

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