We really enjoyed Move Zero Volume 1 so it’s great news that Volume 2 is out so soon. Like Move Zero Volume 1, the DVD features strong and essentially self-working magic and is full of wisdom from the incredible mind of John Bannon. We’ll go through the effects first.
51 Fat Chances is an intriguing little effect with the premise of a bet. The spectator is given ’51 chances’ to find a particular card in the deck. After a very fair set of cuts and deals the final card is, of course, the chosen one. It’s a clever way of using the Balducci Force in an unusual way since the ‘forced’ card is not actually chosen. This feels a bit more like a puzzle than a mystery, but with the right presentation could be powerful. I like the way the routining justifies the slightly odd Balducci procedure. And it can be done with a borrowed shuffled deck – with the spectator doing the all the work.
Leverage – this is a sort of ‘sucker’ prediction where you revise your prediction, apparently based on how the spectator cuts the cards, and the spectator is seen to behave completely as you predicted. This is really just a simple force and revelation, but the presentation lifts it well above this. Again – perform anywhere with any (shuffled) deck.
Tiny Contrary Killer – I love the typical Bannon weaving together of different principles and ideas here to make a really clever routine. A spectator cuts to a random card and a second spectator merely thinks of a card – with one or two surprising twists you demonstrate that you predicted both cards much earlier. I love the subtle thinking here and the magical effect is out of all proportion to the effort required. Wonderful.
Pedal to the Metal – this starts as a simple revelation of a chosen card but in the second phase after a really fair looking random procedure the spectator ‘builds’ a card which again you have earlier predicted. This uses a force I haven’t seen before (I need to complete my set of Semi-Automatic Card Tricks It think!) plus one you’ll be very familiar with on this DVD! This is a brilliant impromptu (ish – there is some set up but it is quite easy to do this on the fly) routine and the principle lends itself to all sorts of sneaky variations. Get your thinking caps on…
Matchismo – from a well-mixed deck the spectator selects three cards for you and for them. They are found to match – and then they make a number which you’ve already predicted in advance. This one doesn’t appeal to me as much as some of the others. It is an interesting effect, but the routine didn’t really do it for me. The shuffling procedure may well have other uses and is worth pondering, and as always the thinking behind it all is worth listening to. John also provides a few extra thoughts and variations.
Chronic – the spectator merely thinks of a card at a number known only to them. After various cuts and shuffles you manage to locate their card. It is a distant relative of the clock trick – though the link is more in the use of time as a theme than anything else. For me this was one of the weaker effects on the DVD but I think this was more about the presentation not grabbing me.
Bannon Triumph – this is quite an early Bannon creation so you may have come across it in other books /dvds. In effect, the spectator chooses a card, the rest of the deck is mixed up face up and face down and then instantly righting itself, leaving all the cards of the spectator’s chosen suit face up and everything else face down. Some set up required but a really lovely triumph which is easy to do and has a slightly quirky presentation.
Free Willy – this is a lovely 3 card prediction based on a well-known principle alluded to in the title! I love the presentation for this which somehow lifts a simple prediction into something much more engaging and entertaining.
Move Zero Moves
As on Volume 1, there is also a ‘trickbag’ teaching a number of useful moves. They are as follows:
Down Under Deal – this isn’t really a move, so it seems odd to have a section devoted to it. But Bannon makes a few helpful observations on the way.
Jay Ose False Cut – repeated from Volume 1 – but included in case you haven’t got it.
Probability Cull – this is a clever way of stacking your deck ‘on the fly’ almost imperceptibly. This is a really useful technique which will be of use in lots of routines including some on this DVD.
Gilbreath Second Principle – this is an ingenious principle which can be used to strengthen the appearance of many effects which use some kind of stack. Even if you don’t understand why it works it’s great to have it in your repertoire.
Key cards and crimps – some reflections on two useful weapons in your arsenal – enabling you to locate cards and sets of cards with ease. Don’t underestimate the power of these ‘basic’ techniques.
Remote Rosetta – this is a helpful technique which helps a spectator do a riffle shuffle when they can’t riffle shuffle! You can also use this to retain a small stock of cards.
Final thoughts
Interspersed throughout the tricks and moves are short interview segments with John Bannon. They are all interesting – though I particularly enjoyed the fascinating discussions of his creative process and philosophy of card tricks.
A number of these effects (like in Vol 1) have already been published in Bannon’s 2015 book Destination Zero – but for those of you who prefer to learn from a DVD this is another superb addition to the library. I will probably try to get hold of the book too. Although sometimes the second volume in a series is weaker – all the good stuff going into the first one, this manages to maintain the quality and is building into a great series – roll on volume 3…
Move Zero Volume 2 is released at the beginning of next month – you can pre-order now at the Merchant of Magic..
(Review copy kindly supplied by the good folk at BigBlindMedia)
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