by SARAH ROWLAND

With all eyes focused on Golden Globe winners and Oscar contenders, it's not easy being a winter release. Summer blockbusters suck up their marketing budgets, critics rarely remember them when it comes to top-10 lists at the end of the year and moviegoers, still broke from the holidays, are reluctant to buck up at the box office. But that doesn't mean the films opening in the next few months aren't worth their weight in popcorn.

Working overtime

For starters, poor timing couldn't stop the three biggest workaholics in Hollywood from pumping out back-to-back releases. Don Cheadle, Naomi Watts and Sean Penn star in The Assassination of Richard Nixon (February), the true story of a businessman seeking his 15 minutes of fame through the time-honoured tradition of offing a celebrity. Penn pairs up with fellow overachiever Nicole Kidman for Sydney Pollack's political thriller The Interpreter (April 22), in which a UN translator overhears a death threat against an African head of state. The only person to believes her is an FBI agent who acts on his gut instincts, the one language she has trouble understanding. Hotel Rwanda hero Cheadle continues his onslaught of critical feats when Paul Haggis's star-studded Crash opens this April. In this series of interconnected vignettes about the cycle of racism, Cheadle plays a wickedly cynical L.A. cop with a junkie mom, gangster brother and hot girlfriend (Jennifer Esposito).

As for Watts, she's back for seconds in The Ring Two (March 18), a follow-up to the genuinely scary 2002 horror hit directed by Gore Verbinski. The mastermind behind the original Japanese version, Hideo Nakata, didn't make the first American translation but will take over as director in this installment. Just like its creepy prequel, the story revolves around a mysterious killer videotape, causing a mangy black-haired girl to crawl out of the TV and viewers croak from fear. Frightful, but it begs the question, "Why not just get a DVD player?"

Take two

Watts isn't the only big name making a return visit to an old character. John Travolta is back as Chili Palmer in Be Cool (March 4), the sequel to 1995's Get Shorty. This time round the laid-back hitman wants to start his own indie record label with partner Uma Thurman. The two Pulp Fiction stars will try to repeat the magic with yet another highly anticipated dance number.

In the remake category, Stuart Rosenberg's '79 phenomenon The Amityville Horror (April 15) has been renovated with a new cast courtesy of director Andrew Douglas. The haunted tale hasn't changed much: a newlywed couple move into their dream home, only to find out the murdered family that used to live there left some evil spirits behind. Vancouver funnyman Ryan Reynolds stars as the husband, so you can bet on plenty of mid-'90s-Chandler Bing-inspired zingers.

Speaking of Friends, Jennifer Aniston stars in Rob Reiner's Rumor Has It (April 15), an ambitious spin-off of Mike Nichols' 1967 classic The Graduate. In this nostalgic romp, Aniston goes home to find out once and for all if her grandmother was the inspiration for Mrs. Robinson. Although she's engaged, she ends up having an affair with an older man (Kevin Costner). Coo-coo-ca-chew!

Sure shots

Less risky than a dodgy romcom, Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire (February) is one of only three Canadian films to be featured at Cannes. This powerful doc follows the Canadian UN Lt.-Gen. back to Rwanda to recount the genocidal campaign that in 1994 didn't shock the nation, nor the UN, nor the Clinton administration nor most of us at home, watching the slayings on the 6 o'clock news. Although CBC will air a shortened version later this month, the director's cut will be worth the wait. Stephen Chow's ultimate martial arts spectacle Kung-Fu Hustle (March) is another sure thing. As China's celebrated movie star back flips, chops, blocks and kicks his way through the ganglands of Shanghai circa 1940, guess what the theme song is going to be?

Melinda and Melinda (March) is Woody Allen's most recent relationship comedy that spins together several stories. What makes this one stand out, aside from Chloe Sevigny, is Will Ferrell, who's set to prove that his talent goes beyond the extended comedy sketches he's been passing off as movies lately. Another must-see this season is Hirokazu Koreeda's Nobody Knows (Feb. 25), a cinematic jewel about a 12-year-old boy (Yûya Yagira, who won best actor at Cannes), trying to raise his three younger siblings after their mother abandons them. Critics are running out of adjectives to describe how beautifully rendered this Japanese gem is, and the same goes for Steamboy (March 18), Katsuhiro Ôtomo's 10-year-in-the-making anime opus.

A reel mixed bag

Thanks to Constantine (Feb. 18), comic geeks won't be left out in the cold this winter. Based on the series Hellblazer, Keanu Reeves stars as supernatural detective John Constantine, and goes to hell and back trying to crack his latest case. Fans of Frank Miller's rough-and-tumble graphic novels can look forward to his directorial debut in Sin City (April 1). Robert Rodriguez co-directs Josh Hartnett and a whole slew of big names, including Michael Madsen, Benicio Del Toro and Rosario Dawson, in this live-action.

In the naughty school girl category, we have D.E.B.S. (Mar. 25). The award-winning short has been extended to a full-length dark comedy about four plaid-skirted debutantes who are recruited to train at an elite espionage academy.

For the kiddies, Danny Boyle's Millions opens Mar 11. No, don't worry: there won't be any bloated rigor mortis babies crawling on the ceiling, the Trainspotting rogue has made a children's film about two wee lads who find a suitcase of money - think Shallow Grave meets Home Alone.

For the tasteless bastard in your life, there's The Ringer (April), in which Johnny Knoxville's character pretends to be mentally challenged so he can rig the Special Olympics. The Jackass star will no doubt have to trade in the infamous Gene Simmons prosthetic he wore in A Dirty Shame for the somewhat less sexy window licker model.

When the snow does finally melt, a delightful little indie sleeper is already waiting to creep in at the box office: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (May 19).

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