Notes from the closet

I have to wonder if the best films got nominated this year for the Oscars. It seems this season didn't give us quite the caliber of last year's fare. So much pain and agony from Black Swan to 127 Hours. True, there was some moving history that needed to be told, like THE HELP. I love the nostalgia of THE ARTIST, too.

Still there were a few movies I felt were over looked.

Curtis, a father and husband, is starting to experience bad dreams and hallucinations. Assuming mental illness, he seeks medical help and counseling. However, fearing the worst, he starts building an elaborate and expensive storm shelter in their backyard. This storm shelter threatens to tear apart his family, threatens his sanity and his standing in the community, but he builds it to save his family's life

Michael Shannon's Take Shelter. He's such an amazing actor. This was a drama and a thriller, but to watch his character unfold with his unique madness, shouldn't be over looked.

Martha has run away from an abusive hippie-like cult where she was living as Marcy May for two years. She turns to her sister and brother-in-law who take her in and want to help her. The problem is Martha is having a hard time separating dreams from reality and when haunting memories of her past keep resurfacing, she may need more help than anyone is able to give her.

Elisabeth Olsen in a startling film, Martha Marcy May Marlene. She plays a teen who shows she's so much stronger than she possibly knows. This is one film where we certainly take this actress, seriously.

A look at how the intense relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud gives birth to psychoanalysis.

Then the controversial film with Kiera Knightly and Michael Fassbender, A Dangerous Method.
Read more about their spanking scene here.

Anna and Jacob fall instantly in love when they meet as students at an L.A. university. But Anna is British and when graduation approaches, Anna decides to stay and violate her student visa rather than returning to England. After a visit home, she is then unable to return to the United States. While fighting customs and immigration battles, Anna and Jacob must decide if their relationship is worth the distance and the hardship.

I was hoping Like Crazy would get some sort of recognition at the Oscars. It was a very honest look at young modern love with some fresh faces, Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin.

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