Confessions of a Movie Junkie

I never really considered myself a movie buff, but in the last year or so I've become so enthralled by cinema that I've worn out two portable DVD players and now watch a film every night of the week on my laptop.

Just today, perusing my online library "reading history," looking up the name of a documentary I couldn't quite recall, the number 548 popped up.

My name is Cassandra and I am an addict.

With my newly discovered "expertise" at hand, I've compiled a list of films and cable TV series which are all available for rent at the , Rathbun, East Haddam Free and Brainard libraries (and for requesting online; all you do is enter your name and library card barcode and you can start a queue — even new releases — and they'll contact you when the item comes in).

There's also Redbox, located at the Middletown and East Hampton Stop & Shops and Middletown Price Chopper, which offers new releases for $1 rental.

Maybe you're on break from school this next week and a half or you've finally taken those "use-it-or-lose-it" vacation days you've accumulated from work. Or perhaps you've taken some time off to be with the kids.

Whatever the reason, there's not much better during the bristling cold of winter than curling up under your warmest blanket and popping a great flick into the DVD player.

These suggestions are by no means comprehensive. Although "10 best" lists are all the rage now that the final days of 2010 are upon us, I'd like to offer a more modest proposal: 10 movies to see over winter's break.

I've awarded stars on a scale of one to four, one star (*) is rental optional, two stars (**) is tell your friends, three (***) is don't pass this up, and four (****) is get thee to a Redbox.

My Name is Khan

The plot sounds sappy: A Bollywood starring Indian superstars Kajol and Shahrukh Kahn, who plays a man from Mumbai now in San Francisco who suffers from Asberger's syndrome. He crosses the country on a quest to win back the love of a woman. (***)

Winter's Bone

Up-and-comer Jennifer Lawrence is a 17-year-old Ozark girl, caring for her two younger siblings who braves the dangerous backwoods of America to find her crystal meth-dealing dad who put their home up for bail bond and disappeared. (****)

Restrepo

National Geographic documentary finds journalist Sebastian Junger, who embedded himelf for a year with U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan with the brave servicemembers who held down the post in the country's deadliest valley. (***)

Californication: Season 1 

A witty, wry comedy starring David Duchovny as a drug- and sex-addicted writer still holding a torch for his soon-to-be-remarried ex-wife, smartly played by the lovely Natasha McElhone. (****)

Bored to Death

Fabulous HBO series with Jason Schwartzman as writer Jonathan Ames (show's creator) struggling with his recent breakup and literary constipation after a critically received first novel. It features a surprisingly humble Zack Galifaniakis as his best friend and dazzlingly good Ted Danson as his boss/father figure. (****)

I am Love

Tilda Swinton is the matriarch of a wealthy textile manufacturing family who falls for a chef-business partner of her son. Their affair wreaks irretrievable damage upon the dynasty. (**)

Ghost Writer 

In this thriller directed by Roman Polanski, Ewan McGregor plays a novelist who agrees to write the biography of a former British Prime Minister (Pierce Brosnan) with murderous consequences. (*)

A Man Named Pearl

This documentary follows a self-taught topiary artist, son of a sharecropper, who uses his gift to teach youth in impoverished South Carolina about following their dreams and turns Bishopville into a mecca of botanical sculpture. (***)

King of California 

Michael Douglas and Evan Rachel Wood star in this terrific 2007 drama about a father released from a mental hospital who is reunited with the daughter he left to fend for herself. His crazy scheme that takes him on a quest for buried gold in the sewer beneath the local Costco might just bring them together. (***)

Leaves of Grass 

This weed-centric dramedy directed by (and starring) Tim Blake Nelson sounds corny, but it really works: Edward Norton plays both twins in this kooky film about a straight-laced college professor who reluctantly returns home after learning his twin has been killed. Norton is brilliant in both roles, as is Keri Russell as his poetry-writing love interest. (****)

Exit Through the Gift Shop by Banksy

A French immigrant in Los Angeles obsessively filming graffiti artists' work locates the ubiquitous British street artist Banksy and convinces him to appear on screen (in shadow). Is it a "prankumentary" in the vein of Joaquin Phoenix's I'm Still Here or the Facebook thriller Catfish? You decide. (**)

In your opinion, what are the must-see movies of the year?