Take Shelter 2011

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Shannon wonderfully modulates Nichols' portrait of a man whose mind and life seem to unravel before our eyes. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The chilling genius of "Take Shelter'' isn't that the threat is never specified but that it doesn't need to be. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Writer-director Jeff Nichols builds his elegantly shot, weather-sensitive horror story in waves of tension that crest as if pulled by tempests. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: There's absolutely nothing affected about the film's perspective. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: It is a quiet, relentless exploration of the latent (and not so latent) terrors that bedevil contemporary American life, a horror movie that will trouble your sleep not with visions of monsters but with a more familiar dread. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: A trenchant portrait of America's poverty-line-treading middle class. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Nichols has a genius for making landscapes and everyday objects resonate like crazy, for nailing the texture of dread. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: It's ultimately a bleak vision, and a circumscribed one, but remarkable all the same, and proof that Mr. Nichols is ready for much bigger things. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: It's so stunningly effective at establishing a sense of dread that it's almost impossible to recommend it without reservations. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: What you think may depend on your tolerance for movies that openly flaunt their metaphorical ambition. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Nichols is still concerned with family legacies, and the ways people in smaller communities relate to each other, but Take Shelter is slower and smoother, deliberately developing a mood of creeping dread. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Shannon is astounding, playing a good man pushed to the brink of sanity, maybe beyond. He portrays a sense of quiet desperation -- a feeling recognizable to many. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Daring thematically and striking aesthetically, even as it pierces at the heart of the most relatable, everyday anxieties we all experience. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: A molar-grinding performance from Michael Shannon anchors this slow but ultimately haunting drama. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Writer-director Jeff Nichols, whose previous film Shotgun Stories also starred Shannon, has the rare ability to think big and work small. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The movies have long been mad about the onset of madness. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: A work of hushed and persuasive emotional veracity. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: There's a strong, unsettling sense of disease that runs through Take Shelter, the best drama of the year so far. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: A riveting genre blend of thriller, domestic drama and supernatural horror propelled by a brilliant lead performance. Read more

Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: There's a specificity to his film that roots it in the here and now, acknowledging not just free-floating unease but everyday fears over the price of gas and insurance co-pays. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Take Shelter is paced slowly and deliberately, which is necessary to make believable whatever is tormenting Curtis. Read more

David Thomson, The New Republic: In my estimate, this unique and frequently arresting film suffers from the monotony of the lead players' affect, and from the film's urge to have its gloomy cake and eat it. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: The movie makes you uncomfortable, but in a good way. Nichols has turned the current moment of American unease into a powerful metaphor. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: All in all, this is a movie that confronts its own hard challenges - and feels utterly, uncomfortably relevant in this new Age of Anxiety. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Nichols approaches his subject with thoughtful empathy, and while his themes are enormous - he's addressing no less than the state of our nation - he wisely underplays even the most important moments. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: It would be possible to appreciate Shannon's fabulous work in "Take Shelter'' far better if the filmmaker lost a quarter of the two-hour running time -- there are many overlong scenes that make this a needlessly tough sit. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: A movie for this moment in time, this moment in our lives. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Here is a frightening thriller based not on special effects gimmicks but on a dread that seems quietly spreading in the land: that the good days are ending, and climate changes or other sinister forces will sweep away our safety. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Michael Shannon gives himself over completely to a complex role and leaves you shattered. Director Jeff Nichols throws curveballs, but his film is unique and unforgettable. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: "Take Shelter" may be the most powerful American film I've seen this year. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It's a film without suspense and with a slow-moving story that unfolds without surprise or embellishment. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: In an era of empty entertainments, "Take Shelter" is built to last. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: The story of a man afflicted with fearful visions, Take Shelter is a film that's hitting the right apocalyptic trumpet call at the right time. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: When future film historians look back at the cultural fallout from America's financial collapse, 'Take Shelter' will be a key text. That is, if the storm doesn't sweep us all away. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The really chilling thing is how believable it is. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: A hallucinatory thriller anchored by a deeply resonant sense of unease. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: Despite a few missteps, Take Shelter powerfully lays bare our national anxiety disorder -- a pervasive dread that Curtis can define only as "something that's not right." Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Taut, unsettling, haunting and powerful, "Take Shelter" stars Michael Shannon in a shattering performance as a man caught up in forces beyond his control. Read more