Cinemental by Nikolas Mavresis

Cinemental is a two-phase mentalism routine using specially printed cards each with a movie poster on the face of each card. The first phase is totally astounding and will fool magicians. Your spectator cuts the cards and looks at the cut to card. It is truly a free choice. Then the cards are shuffled and there is no way the performer can know the card, but after a few moments, the performer is able to divine the movie that was on the selected card. The in the second phase, the spectator deals the cards face up, one at a time and when they stop, the card matches a prediction that has been sitting on the table the entire time.

With your $34.95 purchase, you get a superior quality deck of cards with tons of different movie posters on it. The deck of cards comes in a larger sturdier box and you get a link to downloadable 41 minute instructional video. The instructional video contains several performances, both studio and live and Titanas teaches the methods. The production value of the instructional video is excellent. The cards cannot all be freely inspected, but they can be displayed by the performer. There is some potential memory work, but with the cribs included on the card box and on a card, you don’t have to memorize anything. The card box is specially designed to look like specially printed movie poster cards and is really well done.

The method is very easy to learn and the routine is also very easy to perform. The two methods for each phase borrow from classic card effects. I think the first phase is amazing and very fooling. Because the cards are not playing cards, it is very hard to detect the method. It is really super clever. I think that the first phase in of itself is worth the price of the trick.

Now, the second phase. I do have an issue with the second phase. Like the first phase, the second phase borrows from a card trick method that is very well known across the magic land. However, because the cards are movie posters that your spectators will look at more than they would playing cards, you have a greater chance of being exposed. When I was watching the instructional video and playing with the cards, I thought that there was a good possibility of getting busted especially when the spectator is dealing the cards face up as instructed. To deal with this issue, I would deal the cards face down and that will eliminate the risk of exposure and I do not think it decreases the power of the effect at all. When I first performed this trick, as suggested in the instructional video, to my wife, she caught on immediately to the method of the second phase, but was totally blown away by the first phase.

I am reprinting a portion of the bullet-point ad copy here for a few reasons. First, so you know that the cards are printed by the USPCC and second that I agree with the ad-copy as it relates to the fact that there is no fishing, no multiple outs and that this effect is great for strolling or close-up gigs.

  • Unique movie artwork of well-known classic films designed by Phil Smith
  • Quality cards printed by USPCC
  • A super easy-to-do method – it’s almost self-working!
  • Two and three phase versions included in the instructions
  • No fishing, no multiple outs, no progressive anagrams of any kind
  • No markings, no Svengali, no rough and smooth
  • No peaking at any point
  • No sleight of hand required
  • Prediction effect that utilizes a unique method that has fried even the most seasoned magicians and mentalists.
  • Perfect for close-up, parlor, strolling or street magic.

Cinemental is fun because it uses a deck of movie poster cards that adds depth to the presentation. You can fool your magician friends with this trick and will blow your layperson spectators away.

This trick is available at any Murphy’s Magic dealer who provided this trick to me to give an honest review.