By RUTHE STEIN, San Francisco Chronicle

When Tony Martin's wife, dancer Cyd Charisse, died six months ago, he was bereft. They had a blessed marriage -- the kind where if one of them was away even for a few days, he or she would call the other to eagerly relate everything that had happened. After 65 years together, Martin suddenly found himself alone in their spacious Los Angeles condo, staring at photos of his gorgeous wife.

To keep smaller, more character-driven movies from being lost among the blockbusters, each category in this roundup has its own list of some top prospects. Release dates may change, and vary from city to city.

The Big Movies

"Watchmen" (March 6)

"Nobel Son" is a dreary little thriller that irritates more than it thrills. When you look at the cast, headed by Alan Rickman, Mary Steenburgen, Bill Pullman and Danny DeVito, you have to wonder: What were they thinking? Could it be that they're friends of the director, Randall Miller? If so, they did him no favor by helping this sorry mess to get made.

This time last year, anyone attempting to divine the Oscar nominees would have had a lot more to go on. "No Country for Old Men," "Michael Clayton," "Into the Wild," "Eastern Promises," "Away From Her," "La Vie en Rose" and "In the Valley of Elah" were all already in release.

The description "holiday movie" usually just means it comes out around Thanksgiving or Christmas. Some films, however, take that designation literally. This season there is "Four Christmases," in which Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn are forced to spend Dec. 25 with each of their divorced parents after the flight the couple had booked to Fiji is canceled.

On his first try, Sam Mendes won a Best Director Oscar for 1999's "American Beauty," which also was awarded Best Picture. He recalls thinking, "I have got that over with. Now I can go on and make movies. That is a huge gift."

Philip Seymour Hoffman is ravenous. He had flown into Toronto the day before from London, where he's directing a play. The tricky task at hand is to chat up "Synecdoche, New York," Charlie Kaufman's new movie, which is as difficult to understand as it is to pronounce.

Alfre Woodard was talking on the phone while driving herself to the NBC lot for a day of shooting "My Own Worst Enemy." She plays the head of a covert government operation in the series, which premieres Oct. 13. Looking at her resume, Woodard hasn't had a down year since she started acting more than 30 years ago.

On the bed in Ralph Fiennes' hotel room is a script for Sophocles' "Oedipus." Fiennes, who is about to star as the king of Thebes on the London stage, is learning his lines between promoting his new movie, "The Duchess," at the Toronto International Film Festival.