Let's get the easy stuff out of the way. This is an interesting story about a man's struggle with his family's past and his current family's future. The film is engrossing, the acting is superb and the direction is impressive. Curtis and his wife Sam have a deaf daughter and challenging health care coverage. Money is tight for the couple, but they seem satisfied with their life. They have dreams and hopes for their daughter's future as well. But at no time did they seem unhappy with their life together. They have friends and a budget and they have each other. Then Curtis starts to have visions. Visions of an apocalyptic event. He starts acting strangely and has self-doubts about whether he is at the onset of mental illness. His struggles are justified as we learn that his mother went crazy when he was just ten years old. He starts to keep those he loves at a distance and starts preparing a backyard shelter to protect his family from the apocalyptic future of his dreams. The main question being presented during the movie's run time is whether or not Curtis is sinking into mental illness as his mother did. There. With that basic background covered, it's easier to concentrate on the ridiculous levels of over-analysis by the movie-going public in response to this film. There are many hints dropped throughout this movie that prove Curtis's decent into madness is justified by very real visions of a very real future. The Internet is loaded with theories by people with desires to demonstrate how savvy they are by explaining otherwise. Or there are a lot of viewers who just weren't paying attention. ***SPOILERS STARTING NOW*** Many who have seen this are trying to read so much meaning into this. There's nothing to interpret! At the end of the film, Curtis's wife Sam clearly acknowledges that the approaching storm off the coast of Myrtle Beach is indeed real. Even Curtis's daughter sees the storm coming before he does. He carries her away as Sam also notices the threatening storm and strange oily consistency of the rain and says "Okay, Curtis", which basically means she believes him now. He isn't the first to notice the coming storm! It's proof positive that it's all too real. Also, at their Ohio home, Sam wakes him as a thunderstorm approaches so they can run to the just completed shelter that Curtis built. Once in the shelter, he is hesitant to exit, but his wife was the one that led them there, not him! There is nothing but proof that Curtis is totally sane and is having premonitions. ***SPOILERS OVER*** This is a simple film that is being made complex. Sure, the story asks the question "Is Curtis going crazy?" and it does test the relationships he has with family and friends, but it's not some complicated study of mental illness or the personal effect of a struggling economy or global warming or CEOs keeping all the money or whatever wild theory anyone with a computer can post to the Internet. Jeff Nichols, who directed and wrote the film, is undoubtedly thrilled that his simple story is being interpreted as some sort of important social commentary. Watch "Take Shelter" again. It's clearly not.

>"Sleep well in your beds. 'Cause if this thing comes true, there ain't gonna be any more." Man, this was good. Michael Shannon hardly plays a good guy these days so it was refreshing for him to show off his acting chops as the lead. Not knowing if something is just anxiety or mental illness kept me invested the whole time and I really enjoyed that ending. Definitely recommend this!

Michael Shannon's acting is amazing (as always). I love the atmosphere of the movie and how intense it is. One of my favorite movies!

This was truly a "hidden gem" that I stumbled across on a list of "Psychological Thrillers" and it checked off pretty much all the boxes. I rarely give a film a "9" (it's rare today to find anything that rates above a "7", honestly) but this movie definitely pushed all the right buttons for me. The title and cover photo make it seem like "just another natural disaster" but this is so different. I was completely into it almost from the opening scene and with only 20 minutes left to go, I was aching to know how it was going to turn out! There was only one name I recognized in the entire cast (LisaGay Hamilton from _The Practice_ ) and she had barely a cameo role; I think she had three lines. But the acting by everyone was good (if not great) and the raw emotions, the psychology, the darkening mood of the entire film, the cinematography, the musical score, everything was spot-on in _Take Shelter_ . So glad I found this one because it was truly a great reprieve from the barrage of stupidity I've subjected myself to recently. Without giving away any details or spoilers, I will say that the special effects that came into play in this film were good but honestly, it was the storyline itself that was the masterpiece here. I don't know that I've ever seen Michael Shannon in anything other than this but he certainly carried his part beautifully. Superb job all the way around. If you haven't seen it and you're looking for something different, watch this while it's available on Hulu.