DVD *Reel Magic Episode 6 Dean Dill

These DVDs are hard products to review individually. It’s like reviewing an episode of 20/20, or a particular issue of a magazine. Overall, I think these are filling a much needed gap in the magic world. It’s the closest thing magicians have to a TV Channel. It has it’s flaws, but it also has it’s achievements. I’ll go over the format in general, then I’ll go over my highlights of this particular issue.

The production quality is top notch, and many of the columnists are very natural on camera. People like Garrett Thomas, Jon Armstrong, David Regal, and even Simon Lovell really made a connection to me through the TV screen in each episode I’ve watched.

That said, several interviewers come across as insincere, goofy, and seem to be just going through the motions. One person I’ll mention by name here is John Lovick. He doesn’t look the person he’s interviewing in the eyes, and you sometimes get the sense he’d rather be somewhere else and that he’s doing this interview as a favor. I honestly got this sense from every interview I’ve seen him do. I’ll admit, working on camera is HARD. However, after watching yourself on video once or twice you should start to clue into things like this.

The music in between each segment is the same, and gets old real quick. The entire program is always well put together, and I even like the commercials for various DVDs, tricks, & websites in between the main segments. It’s a nice break from the longer segments, and even if a commercial gets on your nerves, you can hit the skip chapter button.

Kozmo gets his haircut by Dean Dill. He interviews Dean at the same time. This was an interesting idea. It’s a fun insightful interview, but something felt a little off. I thinks it’s because Kozmo is looking down a lot, as we all do while getting our hair cut. That said, Dean tells wonderful stories about Johnny Carson & being on The Tonight Show.

Johnny Thompson’s interview was fantastic. So much is packed into this interview that I won’t even try to go over it all. It’s fun, insightful, and has some interesting old performance footage spliced into the interview. This helps make the interview engaging from start to finish.

I hope this is a project that continues for many more years, and Kozmo should be very proud of the work he’s doing. I just hope he’s asking people for their honest advice about how to make it better, and that he’s following it!

It’s very good, but has plenty of room for growth! I can’t wait to see how it grows in the future!