As I sit at my kitchen table, watching Brutus the snowstorm transform the view outside my window into a winter wonderland I have two diametrically opposed urges. The first is to grab a coat and snowshoes while running out the door screaming MONTANA. The second is to grab a blanket and cocoa while heading to the couch for a movie. If you pick up this magazine on a day that you find yourself in the second camp, may I be so bold as to present a winter movie list composed of a few of my favorites.

1.   The Godfather

“Only don’t tell me you’re innocent. Because it insults my intelligence-and makes me very angry.”

You will like Michael Corleone when he is angry. I have watched this movie so many times that I am pretty sure I am now conversationally fluent in Italian. This is an obsession that has been passed down to me by my dad. Every time I think about The Godfather, I think about watching the entire trilogy in one sitting with him. That’s approximately nine hours. Towards the end of this all-day-extravaganza, right about the same time that my eye started twitching involuntarily, my dad looked over at me with mild horror and announced that he had just drooled. It was a good day. Happy drool-filled memories aside, I am not the first to observe that these movies are freaking amazing. If you are into understated passion, almost palpably heavy darkness, bone-chillingly cold revenge, the interesting places that a deep and binding love of family can take people, and can stomach some pretty intense sexism/violence, watch The Godfather right away. Make sure you have some cannoli handy.

2. Penelope

I love this movie, and it is not only because I get slightly lost in James McAvoy’s eyes (although it doesn’t hurt). Penelope is very funny, with a slight touch of the supernatural and huge helping of girl power. If, like me, you have always longed for the fairy tale heroine that doesn’t need to be rescued, you will find her in Penelope. I try to make all of my friends watch it.

3. Tombstone

Tombstone is at pretty much the opposite end of the girl power spectrum. I don’t know what crimes Val Kilmer had to commit to get into the character of Doc Holliday, but when he says, “I’m you huckleberry,” I believe him. This movie is filled with all sorts of fascinating characters, awesome one-liners, and epic action scenes. It is not for the faint of heart, or those in a hurry.

4. Pan’s Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth is a lovely dark fairy tale for adults who speak Spanish, or don’t mind reading subtitles. The main character is trapped in the brutal, at times gruesome reality of her mother’s world. She is occasionally lured away into a fascinating, if unflinchingly gritty and even more disturbing enchanted world by mythical creatures. This movie is beautiful.

5. My Big Fat Greek Wedding

On a significantly lighter note, My Big Fat Greek Wedding is hilarious, and one of my all-time favorites. After The Godfather, this movie will offer a much different perspective on love and dysfunction in a large family. The plot follows a woman who is part of said huge, fantastically quirky group, and the wonderfully awkward situations that occur as she begins dating.

6.     Julie and Julia

This movie will make you feel all warm and fuzzy, but also very hungry. It follows two true stories: that of Julia Child, and Julie Powell, an author who finds her way by cooking all the recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Don’t roll your eyes at me; this movie is impossible not to love. Julia Child is one of my heroes and Meryl Streep nails it. She just nails it. Also, it makes me consider the possibility of selling my possessions and moving to France.

7. Edward Scissorhands

I love Tim Burton movies. There, I said it. This tale of a mysterious outcast navigating life in an exaggerated suburban community appeals to the misfit in me on a fundamental level. Along the way, the main character encounters an interesting mix of compassion and intolerance.

I hope that you will enjoy these movies as much as I do.

After visiting the west at the age of fourteen, Jamie Balke has been coming up with progressively more elaborate schemes to never leave.