Tender Loving Care

Rating:
Summary: Promising, but filled with problems nonetheless.
Review: All in all, I did get some enjoyment out of Tender Loving Care. You have two actors out of four leads delivering pretty good performances, it's mostly fairly well shot, and I love the concept of interactive movies. However, there were some major pitfalls:

1. The settings are incredibly stagnant. They should have varied the locations much, much more.

2. This film moves at a snail's pace. Too much time is spent on too little plot, and though the dialogue isn't badly written, there is simply too much of it. This story should have taken about half the time it did to unfold.

3. Not enough variety. As with the forerunner of the interactive film, the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books of the '80s, I want drastically different paths to be available to me by my choices.

4. Bad acting from John Hurt (whose role is that of a redundant, annoyingly intrusive narrator) and Marie Caldare (as catatonic wife Allison), whose pussycat whining gets annoying incredibly quickly. Michael Esposito and Beth Tegarden fare much better, one with his complicated character and the other with her enigmatic seductiveness, though because of the overlong script, even they wear thin.

5. Too many questions. At a certain point, I just want to keep moving rather than click, click, click.

You need a lot of patience to get through this one. I did find it fun overall, but Tender Loving Care is far from the complete "coming of age" of interactive movies.

Rating:
Summary: Clever format -- can't wait to see more
Review: DVD is such a young format that you've got to make allowances for problems with some of the earlier entries. That said, this film/game/whatever you want to call it was great fun and really flowed very well.

As the film progressed, you answered questions and took personality tests that effected the outcome -- you could even read the observations the John Hurt character made about YOU based on your answers. And his observations were amusingly accurate sometimes.

The only problem seemed to be in a storytelling standpoint -- plot threads would begin but never really resolved. I suspect this is not due to neglect on the part of the storyteller, however, but because the track of the story I ultimately followed was not one dependant on those threads, and they are fleshed out better in other versions of the film. I look forward to watching this movie again with different answers to see how else it may have played out.

Brief warning -- if you want to watch the whole thing in one sitting, be prepared to reserve about four hours. Also, some of the questions Dr. Turner asks are VERY personal -- don't watch with other people that you don't already trust very well.

Rating:
Summary: Seductive and Psychological Thriller
Review: From the first scene of the movie to the last I found myself reaching for the remote to keep searching for all of the information I could obtain about the Overton family. The acting was minimal but Hurt does a good job of persuading the audience to look beyond the acting skills and fall into the trance of Allison and the mystery surrounding Jody, their young daughter who was in a car accident 6 months prior to the movie.

Through each room and each character the movie develops and becomes almost addictive. The profiles are almost scary they are so accurate.

You must view this film at least once if not more!

Rating:
Summary: A sexy, psychological thriller.
Review: I bought this dvd because I have always enjoyed other interactive dvds such as Dragon's Lair and Space Ace. I was not disappointed with this purchase.

The story had a hold on me from the start. Especially when both of the gorgeous women in this feature were introduced. The acting is quite good and there are plenty of twists and turns in the plot. Some parts of the movie play out kind of like a Cinemax feature. So if you are offended by mature themes or nudity, then don't buy this.

This dvd is entertaining and worth the purchase. The only complaints I have are the following...
-Since this was originally designed as a pc game, it is rather lengthy. I expected to be finished with it in a couple of hours...wrong. It took me at least 4.5 hours to complete it.
-At the end of each section, you are asked a series of psychological questions. Sometimes the number of questions was a bit excessive.

Other than that, this dvd is brilliant. I can't wait to purchase others like it.

Rating:
Summary: Interactive Video Comes of Age
Review: It would appear that they've finally gotten Interactive Video right. The plot is complex and they ask so many questions that you can't figure out ahead of time where they're going with all of this.

The acting isn't as good as you might wish for, but some of it is real good.

Rating:
Summary: I'm a sucker for this stuff
Review: Most people moan when you mention interactive movie games. I don't know why, but I've always found them entertaining and highly interesting...and Tender Loving Care ranks tops on my list. This film was created by David Wheeler and Rob Landeros (the brains behind "The 7th Guest" and "11th Hour")...and they must have had a real passion for this project because they endured a lot to get this dang thing released after multiple delays due to differences with their original publisher (Trilobyte). I applaud their commitment to the format...this title and the follow-up "Point of View" dig deep into the human psyche by asking the viewer personal and probing questions about the actions on screen and (often) the viewer's own viewpoint and value system. It's a little disarming to watch a segment of the film...and then have actor John Hurt ask you a question about your sexual tastes. Supposedly, one's own contribution alters the storyline in a slight or significant way. Now, here's my criticism...after two complete viewings (with different responses) I pretty much recieved the same film and ending. There are multiple endings to find, but I was unable to distinguish any differences between either version that I viewed. Hmmm...Well, I still enjoyed the storyline and the interaction with the characters. This is not for young children as this film contains some violence and nudity. I also recommend "Point of View".

Rating:
Summary: This is a test
Review: This is a psycholigical test. Just as in cardiology there are "resting" and "stress" tests, this is a psychological "stress test." You will be bombarded with emotionally charged events and then asked your opinion of them.

For the best enjoyment value, look at it as a test, rather than as a "game" or a "movie."

This also has high enjoyment value if you can get your friends to play it. The voyerism level is much higher than in a traditional movie - you not only watch the action, you sneak around between scenes and look into drawers, read diaries and private e-mails, etc. When you use this DVD on your friends, you get to watch -them- doing it.

Rating:
Summary: This is a test
Review: This is a psycholigical test. Just as in cardiology there are "resting" and "stress" tests, this is a psychological "stress test." You will be bombarded with emotionally charged events and then asked your opinion of them.

For the best enjoyment value, look at it as a test, rather than as a "game" or a "movie."

This also has high enjoyment value if you can get your friends to play it. The voyerism level is much higher than in a traditional movie - you not only watch the action, you sneak around between scenes and look into drawers, read diaries and private e-mails, etc. When you use this DVD on your friends, you get to watch -them- doing it.