Gripping story with well-crafted characters

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Okay, I have no idea what "Sharknado" is, but I looked it up and this movie technically came out before Sharknado, it was only held back from being released because of a problem going on in Boston (where this movie takes place), so now that that's out of the way and reviewers stop thinking that this movie is a rip-off, here's what I think of Stonados.Stonados isn't some major-motion picture spectacular box office hit, it's a Sy-Fy TV movie from Vancouver. It doesn't have the best script or dialogue. To be honest though, I really liked it. I'm so glad that Stonados didn't bring in the enviro-hippie propaganda garbage by saying that the disaster was caused by global warming and pollution. The story was interesting and the acting wasn't bad, in fact William B. Davis (playing the role of Ben the lighthouse keeper) is my favorite actor and I've seen him in other movies and as the Cigarette Smoking Man in The X-Files, he and every other actor in this movie did an excellent job, given what they had to work with. The soundtrack wasn't bad and the special effects were a little lame but not as bad as in Dark Storm (2006) or Chernobyl Diaries (2012). If there's any two disaster movies you want to avoid, it's those ones, not Stonados.I do have to point out one thing; the intro scene is HILARIOUS! The tour guide lady getting sucked up into the tornado and the hysterical screaming of the old man standing next to her wasn't meant to be funny, but I ended up laughing, so did my little brother. Speaking of my little brother, he's 11, and this movie was totally safe for him to watch, so if you're looking for a horror movie for your kids with no nudity, no gore, etc. this one is a good choice. I think the worst word in it was "damn".

In Case you missed it on Syfy channel there's another kind of Storm front coming to DVD. No it's not the sequel to Sharknado It's just a stone's throw away from that. It's "STONADOS" . As the title suggests this time it's weird frozen boulders that are being hurled through the air to wreak havoc. Did I mention that these stone's were created in the atmosphere by volcanic dust and that when they land the sudden atmospheric pressure drop causes them to explode.Maybe it's because I'm from New York but much like the Denver Broncos I have to say it was a treat to see a New England city getting pummeled and destroyed for once. That's right when a sudden storm forms in the waters off the coast of South Boston, it not only sucks up a tour guide but Plymouth Rock itself! From then on this movie lands with some dark humor and some smashingly funny (I know, I went there but it fits) kills.As Maddy Randall (Miranda Frigon) is investigating the landing of Plymouth rock she calls her brother, science teacher and former storm chaser Joe Randall (Paul Johansson) There they meet up with Joe's old storm chasing partner. Now a cocky, self aggrandizing weatherman Lee Carlton ( Sebastian Spence) Who tells Joe of the weather phenomenon which he later copyrights as "Stonados". Of course mayhem ensues as not even Joe Randall's daughter and son believe flying stones are going to hit them and explode again. But Joe and Lee along with their old friend and lighthouse keeper Ben (plaed by William B. Davis, remember "Cancer Man" from the X Files?) are tracking the freak storms as they move into Boston Harbor and up the river Charles, of course Joe's son and daughter decide to go to a college football game. So it's up to the reunited storm chasers Joe, Lee and Joe's sister Officer Maddy to not only save his kids and then stop the deadly storms with an untested theory before the stonados grow in force and turn inland.Is this a great movie? Will it "Rock" (sorry did it again) the awards shows? Probably not, I mean flying, man eating sharks are a tough act to follow, BUT if like me you have a soft spot for films like "Sharktopus" and "Sharknado" you'll enjoy this disaster flick. It made me grateful to be hunkered down inside with just snow and polar vortex's outside. Therefore I give it three flying boulders out of five. This storm-front is predicted to hit the DVD shelves on January 28th so duck, cover and enjoy!

Better than most of SYFY channel made movies. The acting is actually good. Maybe I missed it but what is up with the little (?) brother. He seems kind of needy and not all there. The special effects are okay. I don't understand why the rocks blow up but hey I didn't write the script. You can see certain occurrences coming before they happen though. Like the lighthouse keeper getting killed by his own lighthouse when it is hit by, gee, a stonado and collapses on him. Then there is the rebellious teenage daughter, you can tell she is going to do something to upset pop. Told to stay home with baby brudder she takes him and they go to a football game. So of course the stonados hit the stadium. Now after the day before when the harbor and such were destroyed, who in their right mind would still hold an outdoor event? Well the NFL after JFK, but who else? A decent enough movie for rainy day.

Stonados is one of those movies where you can tell from the title and plot-line that it is not a film to be taken seriously, and that is true of most SyFy original movies actually. It is like Sharknado as a disaster movie with giant stones, except for this viewer it was nowhere near as entertaining. Stonados does have a fun title idea and title, as well as an opening scene that is tense and to the point. The acting is fitting within the genre and the story itself, it is not great but none of it is anywhere near Tara Reid terrible(even the actor playing the man who tries to flirt with Joe's daughter and he was the weak link of the cast), at least the actors actually seem to be concerned about the situation. Stonados does have a very drab look to it though, and a vast majority of the special effects are poorly-textured and hurried-looking, and even for really big rocks the stones seemed out of proportion. There is a lot of dramatic music and there are one too many times where it does get too much and rather sluggish-sounding, while the script has a lot of terrible one-liners, technobabble that has a very make-it-up-as-you-go-along-without-checking-that-it-makes-sense vibe and one of the biggest and most clichéd understatements in any recent movie in "I think we might have ourselves a very big problem." The story had potential but was thinly structured and very predictably and ridiculously told. The science was wacky that you had the feeling that there was little research or scientific background behind the scenes, and then there's so many plot holes the size of large craters to fill a novel listing them. And there was little sense of threat(there were flashes but it was never consistent), thrills or suspense. Sharknado was a long way from great but was fun and kind of a guilty pleasure. That feeling is less frequent and more controlled in Stonados, but actually the movie also tries too hard to be dramatic and comes across as very overly-serious that it also forgets to be fun consequently and is devoid of almost all the ingredients characteristic of a disaster movie. The death scenes are few and between and what there is silly and very tame, again with little threat or sense of danger, and the father-daughter relationship amongst other relationships and dramatic conflicts dissolve into ham-fisted melodrama with no believability factor. The characters, excluding for a second that they are unlikeable stereotypes, we never do get to know, the pacing gets bogged down by the overly-serious tone and the direction also falls flat. Overall, Stonados is the sort of movie that we shouldn't take too seriously but when the movie itself takes itself too seriously it is difficult not to follow suit although you can't take what is thrown at you at face value. This is a case of trying too hard rather than not trying, but while there is far worse out there despite being from those behind Sharknado it wasn't very entertaining for me, sorry. 3/10 Bethany Cox