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BARBERSHOP Despite the presence of rapper-actor Ice Cube and the occasional booty shot, it's the PG-13 rating and the tag line "From the Producers of Soul Food and Men of Honor" that should tip viewers off that this ensemble comedy has more in common with Sunday school values than Friday film vileness. Forsaking the raunchiness of that Ice Cube hit (as well as its sequel, Next Friday), this one is mostly a sweet-natured and sweet-tempered affair, with the Cube cast as a decent bloke who, like Jimmy Stewart with the Bedford Falls Savings and Loan in It's a Wonderful Life, has inherited a business from his kindly father that has become like an albatross around his ambitious neck. He agrees to sell the shop to a loan shark (Keith David) who plans to turn it into a strip joint, but immediately regrets his decision once he realizes how his establishment serves as a bedrock for the local black community. Ensemble comedies rise and fall not only on the strength of the humor but also on the appeal of the various characters, and in both instances, Barbershop only manages to part down the middle, with some choice wisecracks (most courtesy of Cedric the Entertainer as an opinionated, elderly barber) and amiable personalities having to wrestle screen time away from an inane subplot involving the theft of an ATM machine. It's nice to see Ice Cube in such a relaxed mode, though, and film buffs will want to note that actor Troy Garity (as the shop's sole white barber) is the son of Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden. 1/2

THE FAST RUNNER To state that The Fast Runner (a.k.a. Atanarjuat) is primarily notable as the first major release to be shot in the Inuktitut language is to pay disservice to its staggering visuals, among the most breathtaking to be seen on the big screen in a while. And yet to state that The Fast Runner is primarily notable for its postcard-pretty visuals is to similarly pay disservice to its storyline, which is based on an ancient tale that's been circulating among the Inuit people for countless centuries. Set in the upper reaches of Canada's frozen turf, the story centers on Atanarjuat (Natar Ungalaaq) and Amaqjuaq (Pakkak Innukshuk), two brothers who are constantly in opposition with a surly tribe member named Oki (Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq). Oki and Atanarjuat are both in love with Atuat (Sylvia Ivalu); that dispute is eventually settled with Atanarjuat emerging the victor, but when he also becomes involved with Oki's Lady Macbeth-like sister Puja (Lucy Tulugarjuk), tensions escalate and betrayal, rape and murder all rest on the horizon. Like many great films, The Fast Runner is able to wholly immerse us in a completely alien culture, yet one of its strengths is that it doesn't treat its characters with kid gloves. On the contrary, the messy emotions raging throughout this three-hour effort are instantly recognizable, allowing the film to paradoxically feel familiar and foreign at the same time. 1/2

MOONLIGHT MILE It's hard to imagine anyone managing to steal a movie not only from charismatic rising star Jake Gyllenhaal (The Good Girl, Donnie Darko) but also from accomplished Oscar winners Susan Sarandon, Dustin Hoffman and Holly Hunter, yet newcomer Ellen Pompeo pulls off the feat with aplomb. She's one of the main reasons to see Moonlight Mile, a highly likable if somewhat calculated melodrama partly inspired by an incident in writer-director Brad Silberling's life. Silberling, who was dating actress Rebecca Schaeffer (TV's My Sister Sam) when she was murdered back in 1989, has taken that tragedy as the basis for this film about a young man (Gyllenhaal) who, after the senseless slaying of his fiancee, moves into the home of her parents (Sarandon and Hoffman) so they can retain a connection with their daughter. Hiding his own secret regarding his relationship with the bride-to-be, he finds his emotions becoming even more tangled once he falls for a local bar owner (Pompeo) working through her own personal pain. A few plot developments seem extraneous and certain conclusions feel too glib, but overall, this is a moving and occasionally insightful study of how individuals learn to cope with loss and grief in their own idiosyncratic manner. Hunter has little to do as a prosecuting attorney, but Sarandon and Hoffman haven't been this interesting to watch in years, while Gyllenhaal gets to show more emotion here than in his previous roles. Still, the big story here is Pompeo, a striking newcomer who will get to build on this early promise with upcoming roles in Daredevil and Speilberg's Catch Me If You Can.