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Dayton Daily News

Dayton Daily News is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Terry Lawson.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
House (1985) Terry Lawson At the bloody and rotting end, we can't figure out whether to giggle or gag, so we simply put our hands over our mouths to stifle either reaction. A real horror movie makes us put our hands over our eyes.
Posted Jan 30, 2026  Edit critic review
1.5/4
North (1994) Terry Lawson Anyone older than North will be too busy wondering what Reiner found so interesting about this thin story to even pay much attention.
Posted Jan 24, 2026  Edit critic review
2/4
Misery (1990) Terry Lawson Misery is undone by Reiner's refusal to make the movie about what the movie is about. It's one case of writer's block where the writer is not responsible.
Posted Jan 22, 2026  Edit critic review
Stand by Me (1986) Terry Lawson Stand By Me blatantly trades on our rosy recollections of an uncomplicated world. But it does it without the slick calculation found in such projects, and Reiner is careful not to infect it with any '80s cynicism.
Posted Jan 13, 2026  Edit critic review
The Sure Thing (1985) Terry Lawson The Sure Thing lives up to its title. It's the sweetest, most positive little romance since -- dare I say -- Splash.
Posted Jan 07, 2026  Edit critic review
The Princess Bride (1987) Terry Lawson Our involvement becomes very real. You have to believe in magic for magic to work may be a cliche, but like all the others incorporated into this lovely, beautifully-made movie, it remains the truth.
Posted Jan 07, 2026  Edit critic review
3.5/4
A Few Good Men (1992) Terry Lawson Like cable television's legal channels, it might pay lip service to being concerned with the workings of justice, but it's actually preoccupied with keeping us glued to our seats. At which it is remarkably successful...
Posted Jan 07, 2026  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Hook (1991) Terry Lawson Spielberg hides a good movie underneath a thicket of themes and mechanizations. The result is a movie of great moments, but no great impact. We're impressed, but unmoved. Hook flies, but never soars.
Posted Dec 19, 2025  Edit critic review
1/4
Big Top Pee-wee (1988) Terry Lawson If the first movie was sublimely stupid, this one is just plain stupid, both in approach and realization.
Posted Dec 11, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/4
The Abyss (1989) Terry Lawson For all of the elaborate craftsmanship, there is also an ethereal quality to The Abyss that does not seem contrived or manufactured.
Posted Dec 10, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
True Lies (1994) Terry Lawson As a summer entertainment, True Lies doesn't deceive: It's large fun, and that's the truth.
Posted Dec 09, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Terry Lawson But if Terminator 2 is somewhat mechanical and predictable, it is never boring or stupid in the way that most big budget action films have become. The Terminator may shoot at the knees, but the movie aims much higher.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
The Running Man (1987) Terry Lawson The real attraction is watching Schwarzenegger dispatch these villains sans the guilt and remorse of mere mortals.
Posted Nov 06, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
Predator 2 (1990) Terry Lawson Despite an abundance of the excess we've come to expect from Silver's action extravaganzas, Predator 2 is a better movie than the original.
Posted Oct 31, 2025  Edit critic review
Predator (1987) Terry Lawson ...director John McTiernan's only mission is to keep the film going until the climactic face-off between the world's most powerful man and the universe's most godawful thing, and it is there that Predator fails miserably.
Posted Oct 30, 2025  Edit critic review
From Beyond (1986) Terry Lawson Miles ahead of most of its competition in the gross-out horror genre, if only because director Gordon is such as funny fellow.
Posted Oct 20, 2025  Edit critic review
Desert Hearts (1985) Terry Lawson Desert Hearts is less about lesbianism than it is about possibilities, and that its story of awakening and awareness is one with which everyone can identify, regardless of sexual orientation.
Posted Oct 12, 2025  Edit critic review
My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) Terry Lawson My Beautiful Laundrette is hardly ever pretty, but has its own peculiar beauty. Part of it is in its willingness to take chances, but a bigger part of it is its willingness to fail.
Posted Oct 10, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
To Sleep With Anger (1990) Terry Lawson To Sleep With Anger's purposely plain tone and unadorned performances only enhance its unsettling tone.
Posted Sep 23, 2025  Edit critic review
2/4
Night of the Living Dead (1990) Terry Lawson A perfectly functional, well-made horror film that sticks closely to the meat-and-bones format of the original, reviving all its characters and situations without recapturing very much of its urgency or unsettling appeal.
Posted Sep 17, 2025  Edit critic review
The Return of the Living Dead (1985) Terry Lawson It works precisely because it has no message, no moral, and no pretension to mass appeal. And one other thing: More brains.
Posted Aug 13, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
Braveheart (1995) Terry Lawson Equal parts historical drama, romance and battlefield spectacular, it is tempting to regard Braveheart as an epic cut from an old-fashioned plaid, but old-fashioned was never quite this graphic.
Posted Aug 07, 2025  Edit critic review
Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) Terry Lawson Pee Wee's Big Adventure is not only a consistently funny movie, it's one of the few comedies of recent years born of a unique and original vision.
Posted Jul 30, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
Waterworld (1995) Terry Lawson Waterworld, the most expensive production in the history of commercial film, is a good movie. It is exciting, fun and on occasion, honest-to-goodness thrilling.
Posted Jul 28, 2025  Edit critic review
2/4
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) Terry Lawson If the one-liners are mostly pretty predictable, the sight gags, which are remarkably shameless, connect even when we wish we were immune.
Posted Jul 24, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
Longtime Companion (1990) Terry Lawson It is a moving piece, especially in its last half.
Posted Jul 17, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
DuckTales, the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990) Terry Lawson Ducktales: The Movie is an enjoyable romp and, as might be expected, far superior to its half-pint competition.
Posted Jul 17, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Red Rock West (1993) Terry Lawson Red Rock West is arguably the best film of its type since Blood Simple, with which it begs comparison.
Posted Jul 15, 2025  Edit critic review
Explorers (1985) Terry Lawson Oddly, Explorers spends more than an hour rather hamfistedly trying to convey the magic of dreams and the wonder of discovery, and then throws it all down the tubes in favor of a silly shaggy alien joke.
Posted Jul 10, 2025  Edit critic review
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) Terry Lawson Well, they've finally done it. The've reduced the Man of Steel to the Man of Squeal.
Posted Jul 02, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
Jurassic Park (1993) Terry Lawson The dinosaurs are crafted with such precision and imagination that we quickly forget to wonder if they are robots or puppets or computer-generated images and accept them as living, breathing animals.
Posted Jul 01, 2025  Edit critic review
Day of the Dead (1985) Terry Lawson I do not begrudge Romero his obsessions, but I can't help but wish he would find a way to balance the phony brains with some real ones.
Posted Jun 25, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
Apollo 13 (1995) Terry Lawson Harris and Sinese give such compelling performances that no one is likely to feel shortchanged. Giving them the spotlight also makes it clear that not all the heroes of Apollo 13 -- or the space program -- were in outer space.
Posted Jun 25, 2025  Edit critic review
Return to Oz (1985) Terry Lawson The acting is as good as it gets in fantasy films, with Miss Balk, who is on screen 90 percent of the time, giving a warm, strong performance as Dorthy Gail.
Posted Jun 19, 2025  Edit critic review
1/4
Child's Play (1988) Terry Lawson Even great special effects can't distract us from the fact that film is terribly directed, and terribly acted...
Posted Jun 05, 2025  Edit critic review
1.5/4
The Next Karate Kid (1994) Terry Lawson The fourth installment in a series that was basically flat on the mat two matches ago.
Posted May 29, 2025  Edit critic review
1.5/4
The Karate Kid Part III (1989) Terry Lawson The Karate Kid Part III is hardly the sort of movie that engages in irony, but if it did, it would have plenty to engage in.
Posted May 28, 2025  Edit critic review
The Karate Kid Part II (1986) Terry Lawson That the message never intrudes on the humor and action -- which once again are served up in nearly equal doses -- is what separates this from less accomplished variations on the same theme.
Posted May 27, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
The Wedding Banquet (1993) Terry Lawson It becomes deeper and smarter as each character confronts the truth about what it is he or she wants.
Posted Apr 16, 2025  Edit critic review
Withnail and I (1987) Terry Lawson The sort of film we'll remember long after they've turned Woodstock into a miniseries or Abbie Hoffman turns up felling old Strawberry Alarm Clock records on late-night television.
Posted Apr 04, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
Do the Right Thing (1989) Terry Lawson Do the Right Thing is a powerful, provocative assessment of race relations in urban America, and it also is brilliantly effective moviemaking, by turns hilarious and tragic, sad and suggestive.
Posted Mar 13, 2025  Edit critic review
Back to School (1986) Terry Lawson ...this movie's notable lack of pretension and Dangerfield's lovable schlepper persona make for a winning combination.
Posted Feb 27, 2025  Edit critic review
Blue Velvet (1986) Terry Lawson Whatever you may think of this funny, repellent, nightmarish and incredibly original film, Lynch has guts and vision, two qualities as rare in today's Hollywood as good corned beef is in today's Dayton.
Posted Jan 22, 2025  Edit critic review
B+
Mulan (1998) Dave Larsen The standard-bearing animation studio, facing assaults on all flanks from such upstarts as Warner Bros., Fox and DreamWorks, rises to the challenge with its funniest and most heartfelt film since The Lion King.
Posted Dec 19, 2024  Edit critic review
3.5/4
The Lion King (1994) Terry Lawson The movie's truest pleasure is in its deft development of the characters, especially the comic creations.
Posted Dec 19, 2024  Edit critic review
3/4
Hercules (1997) Dave Larsen Hercules may not reign among Disney's all-time animated classics, but its lighthearted Grecian formula has the strength to become an Olympic-sized hit.
Posted Dec 18, 2024  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Pocahontas (1995) Terry Lawson Pocahontas strives for Romeo and Juliet-style sentiment, but it is shackled by its own constraints. The lovers can't really rise above the petty jealousies of their elders because, as the film never stops reminding us, the issues aren't petty.
Posted Dec 17, 2024  Edit critic review
4/4
Aladdin (1992) Terry Lawson The real center of Aladdin is Williams' performance, and though Williams is never seen on screen, his personality permeates the movie; like the genie, he is its prevailing spirit.
Posted Dec 16, 2024  Edit critic review
4/4
Beauty and the Beast (1991) Terry Lawson Beauty and the Beast establishes new standards that all subsequent animated films will be asked to live up to. Walt would, and should, be proud.
Posted Dec 16, 2024  Edit critic review
The Prince and the Pauper (1990) Terry Lawson Any excuse to get Mickey on the big screen is OK by me, but despite some beautiful backgrounds, this short, too, is something less than magical.
Posted Dec 15, 2024  Edit critic review
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