I’ll be the first to admit that I’m looking forward to going home for Thanksgiving. It’s not that I don’t love it here (I do), but I feel that it’s more effective to brag about California weather to all my East Coast friends in person. Plus, I miss my movie theater. Way back when, in the throes of high school, I often showed up there multiple times in one week. Here, well, thank goodness for Flicks.

I didn’t even realize that I missed it so much until I called one of my friends back home, and she mentioned that she’d gone to see “The Prestige” without me. After chewing her out (she should have known better), I decided to list all the movies that I, and probably you, need to see.

First, there is the obvious: “Borat.” It’s got to be the number one movie in America for a reason. Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat, the reporter from Kazakhstan who winds up in outrageous and impressively awkward situations while trying to figure out what makes America so great, is funny. Really, really funny. At least, that’s what those committed fans who dragged themselves all the way to Redwood City to see it said.

Next, we’ve got to see “The Departed.” For those who haven’t been obsessively watching trailers online, it’s the new Martin Scorsese film in which Leonardo DiCaprio, a Boston cop, goes undercover to infiltrate Jack Nicholson’s gang. At the same time, Matt Damon, working for the gang, infiltrates the police department to find Leo out. What holiday season doesn’t need a good, suspenseful crime caper? USA Today even called it one of the best films of Scorsese’s career. Plus, Titanic was really important to me. Leo, I’m here for you.

But don’t think we’re going to stop at two. “Stranger Than Fiction” is still playing, and that’s definitely a must see. Sure, it’s a little weird to see Will Ferrell not drinking, streaking or mocking NASCAR, but the storyline is too good to turn down. Emma Thompson stars as a writer struggling to complete her latest novel, much as some of us struggle to complete our latest PWR paper. She attempts to kill off Ferrell, her main character, who happens to actually exist. It’s the kind of storyline that’s just strange enough to be amusing.

And then, for something totally new and different, there’s “Babel.” While it’s a more serious movie than I would normally choose, tackling issues of communication and political and cultural divides, it appears to be the kind of ambitious, important movie that we should see over the break to make sure we all remember to think, not just eat. It also has the advantage of making us look smarter, much the same way that having “Freakonomics” prominently displayed on my bookshelf does. And I can go to it with my mom. And it has Brad Pitt. What’s not to love?

Finally, there’s “The Prestige,” the movie that my silly, inconsiderate friend went to see without me. It stars Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as friends-turned-warring-magicians, trying to outdo each other in their performances. As consolation for having gone without me, my friend not only promised to see it again with me, but also recounted in loving detail exactly how perfect it was. It was amazing. It was brilliant. It was surprising, suspenseful, wonderful, exciting. Of course, all she had to say was that the terrible mustache that Bale sports in the preview doesn’t last more than five minutes and I would have been sold immediately.

So that’s five movies I have to catch up on. Keeping in mind that “Casino Royale,” “Happy Feet” and “Tenacious D” will also be in theaters, well, it’s going to be one action-packed holiday. I guess I’ll just bring the turkey to the movies with me.