"The Wicked World of Liam Montier Volumes 1 and 2" DVDs by Liam Montier
Suggested Retail USD$35.00 each
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

Liam Montier's two volumes, "The Wicked World of Liam Montier", make up a collection of some intriguing, powerful magic with an eye toward simplicity and visuals that will have a lot of this material end up in more than a few professional acts.

I first learned of Montier through Dale Hildebrandt's "Bits and Bytes", and I liked some of his thinking there. It was, in a word, odd. In a few words, really, really odd. So when I learned Montier was putting out a disc of his work, I was more than a little interested.

As it turns out, Montier's magic is something to see. Simple in method but visually pleasing, his effects are different things and, ultimately, fairly powerful stuff on the whole. There are some misses here and there, things that just don't seem to fit in with the other material, but overall the material is great stuff.

There's a lot to cover and, in this case, getting an idea of each routine will serve us best.

Let's begin with Volume 1 (one day, I'll review a set like this and begin with the last disc of the series just to throw you off, Dear Reader).

The first disc leads off with "Stickman Sebastian". A stickman is drawn on a Post-It note and stuck to the card case. A card is chosen and lost in the deck. The Post-It is placed on the top card of the deck and vanishes. The deck is spread and the Post-It is found stuck to the selected card. It's pealed off, the card given to the spectator to cover with their hand, and the Post-It again vanishes from the deck to appear on the selected card. Do I have to tell you how bored I was with this one until the second phase kicked in? Montier suckered me into this one; it's a fine routine.

"Hof Slap" is "Hofsinzer's Aces" with flare and panache. Montier's version has the spectator holding the four aces which are then slapped from the hand by the performer. Three of the Aces fall, leaving the spectator with the Ace matching the suit of the selected card, which is still in the spectator's hand. When that card is turned over, though, it's the selected card. This one is one I'll be doing a lot, personally. It's quick, easy, and different.

"Worry Dolls of Doom" didn't do a whole lot for me. Three small "worry dolls" (tiny, hand-made human figures) are placed in the hand and vanish, only to reappear in the small box that's been in plain view. This is about as pedestrian as it gets for Montier; it's good, but not on the level of the other material.

"Lolli-Pop" fell flat for me as well. In this one, a small lollipop (for Americans, about the size of a Dum-Dum sucker) is pulled off the stick and then restored visibly. I couldn't get by the suspension of disbelief here -- it ain't that easy to pull the candy off the stick over here -- and maybe that's my big beef. The visuals are good, though, for kids probably a nice little routine.

"OOTW-999".. I'm still on the fence with this one. Essentially, it's a packet "Out of This World", with the performer holding two cards and the spectator picking one of the pair to be either red or black and the other card, the one not chosen, placed aside. At the end, the spectator has separated the colors as usual but the discarded cards are turned over to reveal the spectator's cell number. I like the separation piece, but don't like the idea of skulking around trying to get someone's phone number surreptitiously. I'll probably play with it and come up with something else, but done as-is? Eh.

"Visual Voodoo" likewise has me on the fence. A business card with six stick figures drawn on it in ink is shown. The spectator picks a number from one through six and the figure at that number is circled. The name of the one to be "cursed" is written on another piece of paper, which is wadded up and put over the circled figure. It's lit, disappears in a flash of flame, and the stick figure likewise is gone. One part of me doesn't like the method of the vanish (it's becoming a bit well-known now outside of the UK and Europe) but another part of me says the selection all but destroys the use of That Method. Regardless, it's interesting and certainly visual.

Speaking of visual... "Triumph Twist". This is about the most visual "in the hands" Triumph I've seen. It's also easy. Montier hit his stride here; this is a great routine that is simple and pretty. This is one that'll get used often.

"Cheater" is a four-card transpo sold as a blackjack cheat. A black jack (a Jack and an Ace) are removed from the deck and put up the sleeve (where they are still visible). Another two cards are shown (say a Nine and a Six). In a flash, the Nine and Six become the blackjack and are found up the sleeve. This is very pretty and very well presented. Color this another good one.

"Psy-Kik", though, not so much. A spectator writes down an ESP symbol on a Post-It note stuck to a wallet, along with initials, numbers, or some other bit of information, all of which the performer reveals. It is what you think it is and there's really not much innovative here. This also doesn't seem to be one of Montier's favorites either. And really, this could be done with so many methods that don't rely on gimmicks.

"Coin-Corde", though, is going straight into my act. This is a Chinese-coin-and-string bit, similar to one Sankey released, but on steroids. The visuals here are stunning and the handling, though a little angly, clean and open. Did I mention how easy this one is? Well, it is. This is prime stuff here.

"Withdrawal" is a cute piece. The performer shows an ATM withdrawal receipt and the balance is noted. The receipt is then folded and then unfolded to reveal a bank note inside. The balance is re-examined and seen that it has lowered to match the appearing bill. Okay, so it's not earth-shaking, but it's neat in its own way and odd enough to be entertaining.

"Psychic Pickpocket" is one of my favorites and the first one on this disc I actually broke down and performed. It's a keeper. In this one, five random cards are shown and one mentally selected by a spectator. The cards are then placed face-down in the face-up deck, the deck put in the case, and the case dropped into an empty paper bag. The performer reaches into the bag and quickly removes a single face-down card which is set aside. The deck is removed and spread, showing only four face-down cards. These are turned over and none of them are the selected card. The card magically retrieved and set aside is turned over and seen to be the selected card. Frankly, I love this one and consider it well worth the price of the disc. There's so much devilish stuff going on I can't help but love it. It's also quite easy to pull off.

Volume 2 is fairly loaded as well. As with Volume 1, we're given twelve effects here that go all over the place.

"Measles" begins the set and it's a weird one. A packet of cards is removed from the deck and set aside. The performer brings a card from out of a wallet that has small yellow dots on the back of it, adding it to the deck. One by one, each of the set-aside cards is touched to the deck and suddenly has spots on the back of it. The spots then disappear, leaving just the single dotted card. Yeah, this one is weird, but the handling is fairly wide open; if you don't like the spots, other things can be used. The neat part here is Montier's handling of those initial changes; they look very, very neat.

"Coin in Case" is good, solid, commercial piece. In this one, a deck with the cellophane still on it is shown and a coin borrowed. The deck is struck against the coin and the coin is shown trapped behind the cellophane. The cellophane is loosened by pulling it down away from the deck where the coin moves around freely. The coin is grasped through the cellophane and is visibly pulled through the plastic. The coin is again struck, this time with the loosened cellophane, and the coin again winds up stuck inside the plastic. This one is gorgeous. It requires a little more work than Montier's other pieces, but it's worth the effort. This one's worth the money.

"Little Miss Show" left me cold, except for the premise which is quite slick. A card is selected signed, and lost in the deck. When the performer tries to make the card rise back to the top of the deck (a la "Ambitious Card"), the wrong card is shown. The performer takes a marker and tries, badly, to make the wrong card look like the selected card. Giving up, the card visually changes to the selected card which is then lost in the deck and rises to the top. Not a whole lot new here except for the premise; it's worth a look for that.

"Sock-It" is a little pedestrian for my tastes, but it's still interesting. In this one, two coins are dumped out of a sock, a coin selected by a spectator, and one put in the sock. The spectator holds the sock between their hands, the coin in one hand, and the performer slaps the sock with the other coin, knocking the sock out of one of the spectator's hands. A distinct clinking is heard, the sock emptied, and the two coins are found inside. The handling is fairly good here and, maybe as a lead-in to another effect, this could be fun.

"Bandit" is worth seeing just for the routining and the production. In this one, the deck is cut at the spectator's discretion and the cut-off portion set aside. The packet is then dealt face down, singly, on the table and every once in a while an Ace suddenly pops into view, face-up at the performer's fingertips. The Aces are then shown to the only red-backed cards in the blue-backed deck. Ignoring the red-backed/blue-backed piece of this, the production is slick and a great demonstration of how to make a flourish look magical.

"Smiling Queen" is one for the British among us. A ten pound note is carefully folded so the Queen is seen smiling. The note is then unfolded and then folded into a very small packet. Upon opening the packet, the Queen is now sporting a cartoonish pair of over-sized mirrored shades and a much-too-large toothy grin. It is what it is, but it's a neat use of the switch.

"Sleeve Assembly" was among my favorites here, but then I collect Assemblies. Here the Ace of Spades is put up the sleeve all by its lonesome while the other three Aces are tabled. The usual assembly procedure applies here except that each Ace is seen going into each packet. They still vanish and all the Aces are produced from the sleeve. Big thumbs up on this for the level of visibility without gaffs and for the staging.

"Corker" is a fast -- and I mean lightening fast -- bit of business. A small corked bottle is brought out, the cork removed, and that quickly the cork has grown to a size almost as big as the entire bottle. While I don't see this as a standalone piece, it could make a neat visual aside to another routine using the bottle. Either way, it's interesting to see.

"Card Deck Case" is the gutsiest thing on here and Montier makes it look as tame as a drawer box. The four Aces are placed in the deck, vanish, and reappear under the card case that has been in full view the whole time. This is repeated but the Aces don't vanish; the entire deck does and is now under the card case. As I said, gutsy, but it's well covered and done in such a way it'll work... provided you've got the testicular fortitude to pull it off.

"Happy Monte" is an adorable "Color Monte" variant using smiley faces. It's cute and that's about all that can be said for it. Considering the source, "cute" is a compliment.

"Only Joking" was also cute, but it's not a compliment this time around. It's an "cutting the Aces" routine, with a red-black transpo at the end. The handling is nice -- I think it's safe to say Montier's handlings always are -- but the plot was just a bit too common (especially considering everything else Montier's got going on with this disk).

The final effect, and another one I'll be using, is "Card Thru Bag". A card is selected and lost in the deck, the deck put into a clear plastic bag and, as the bag is slowly shaken, the chosen card slowly and visibly falls through the bag. This looks so good it's hard to pass up by anyone who does magic with cards.

Whew. That's a lot of verbiage to wade through but it may give you an idea of what's going on here. There's some absolutely wonderful pieces in this collection that will be used. Montier's thinking is excellent in most pieces and, even when it appears he has lowered the bar for himself, there's always a nugget of an idea there that the more experienced can launch themselves from.

The material itself is all fairly easy, though there may be a challenging bit here and there. None of it is quite beyond the advanced performer and most easily within the grasp of the educated novice. As for the practical issues, Montier keeps everything pretty much workable here, though table space and pocket space both will be required for some pieces (in another, standing is a problem). Over all, though, this set has some very practical pieces and those with special requirements can likely be tailored to fit your venue with a little mental exertion.

So do I recommend this set? Absolutely. Get one or both. Each disc has enough stuff on there to make them worth the price. Do I recommend one over the other? Not really. To completely butcher an old saying, let the material be your guide.

"The Wicked World of Liam Montier Volumes 1 and 2" DVDs by Liam Montier
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

Material: 9
About half of Montier's material is card work, the rest a blend of suckers and coins and corks and business cards... well, you get the idea. A lot of the material here is fascinating, but some methods and themes are going to turn folks. Overall, though, there is plenty here to like and some to absolutely love.

Practicality: 8
Set-ups are easy, resets either non-existent or quick, repeatability usually not a problem... The only issues to be aware of are that a routine or two will definitely need a table with you sitting behind it and some of the routines will have you loading your pockets with more than the usual range of props.

Quality of Production: 10
Big Blind Media... Need I say more?

Quality of Instruction: 10
Montier (and BBM's ever-lovin' ever-present Owen Parker) do a fantastic job of teaching the work. BBM has also made crediting their trademark, with thorough crediting and even used sleights featured as a crawl at the beginning of the explanations. Well done, everyone.

Presentation: 9
Montier's magic is visual and offbeat. Even with typically non-visual (and still powerful effects), Montier takes the eye-candy up a notch. When Montier goes outside of this, the material just seems flat and, well, un-Montier-like.

Shane

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