My review of Nothing...

[Pepka]

Let me start off by saying I really love Max's work.  I own several of his products, use some of his techniques, and have seen him perform and lecture several times.  

I was really looking forward to this DVD set.  I'm not a mentalist, but I'm getting more interested in this field, and Max is top notch; usually.  The performances were really lacking.  VERY drawn out and lots of dead time.  The way the performance is shot, (with some new L&L hotties) there is about 4-5 minutes before any real magic happens.  One effect actually fails, not because of Max, but rather his spectator being confused.  Max does not acknowledge it.  No one in the audince really mentioned it.  And they think it worked.  (Hey, would you argue with Max?)  One interesting routine involves a game of chance and "prizes" distributed to the audience, and one prize left for Max.  Of course, the only prize of any value goes to him.  I don't agree with the choice of prizes that Max uses in the show, but he offers a few other suggestions in the explanation.  There is a psychometry routine which is impressive, but took SO long I fast forwarded through most of it.  The much hyped Para-sight routine concludes the show.  It's a magazine test with unprepared magazines.  It uses 2 forces, one of which I liked, one I didn't.

The explanations were more interesting than the show.  Max is joined by several friends to discuss the routines.  He admits that the way the pieces are constructed may not be for everyone, and offers suggestions that will work for us mere mortals.  At the end, he tells us about an easter egg feature that will provide commentary during the show.  No, I won't give it up.

Bottom line, is this Max's A material?  I really don't think so.  Is the DVD set worth $100?  For me, no.  How much of this material will I put into a real paid show?  Probably, nothing.

[Christian]

Thanks Pepka, I know your reveiw and Keith and Andrew's have saved at least one person $100.

[Innoxious]

Nice review mate!
I really like the idea of being able to perform an impromptu mentalism show, but Im not willing to pay 100$ for the videos.
I already posted this somewhere else but I thought it was funny so I will post it again:

LOL I searched penguin magic for new effects and I found NOTHING.
I read the description and almost at the bottom of the page I found this:

...limited-release manuscript have sold for as much as 0. And that’s something!

yes... its an exact quote! check it our before they correct it.
http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=1524

[Pepka]

I forgot to mention, I did not buy the DVDs a friend did.  I wanted to find out a little more first before taking the plunge.  I'm glad I did.

[Nycteris]

I just e-mailed Max Maven and said reading Prism was preparing me to sit around and do Nothing. (hahaha)

I should have had more coffee before hitting send.  :shock: