All roads, even the one through a black-owned barbershop, lead to "The Godfather."

		New this week: "The Butterfly Effect" -- Ashton Kutcher plays a college student who, using journals he kept as a boy, is able to re-enter his past, in an effort to change it for the better. Often, though, he just makes things worse in this thriller. "Monsieur Ibrahim" -- Omar Sharif stars in this well-reviewed story of two people -- an elderly Muslim shopkeeper and a young Jewish boy -- who form a bond of friendship and together confront life's painful and joyful rites of passage. "The Charlie Chan Chanthology" -- This six-disc set features Sidney Toler as the wise detective in the mid-1940s films "The Chinese Cat," "Charlie Chan in the Secret Service," "The Jade Mask," "Meeting at Midnight," "The Shanghai Cobra" and "The Scarlet Clue." "My Voyage to Italy" -- Martin Scorsese directs and narrates this look at seven great Italian filmmakers and their profound influence on him. "10,000 Maniacs -- Time Capsule" -- This DVD spans the group's 20-plus-year career and includes rare early footage, never-before-released videos and favorites such as "These Are the Days." "Fighting Spirit" -- The first volume of this animated story about Ippo, a young man bullied in school and struggling to make ends meet at home, has five episodes, outtakes and bloopers. Also: "Awesome All-Star Action," a retrospective on the mid-summer baseball ritual, from Q Video and Major League Baseball Productions; "The English Patient Collector's Series DVD," for those who don't share the fictional Elaine Benes' view of this romance; "Star Trek: Voyager -- Season Three," "Batman: The Animated Series -- Volume One," "Challenge of the Super Friends: The First Season" and "Bob the Builder: The Live Show."

While contemplating a follow-up to 2002's "Barbershop," the producers and director looked to "The Godfather, Part II" (the first sequel to win an Academy Award for best picture) for inspiration. That's why they incorporated flashbacks illustrating how Cedric the Entertainer's motor-mouthed, opinionated Eddie became a barber who pays no "booth rent" for his chair at Calvin's Barbershop at 79th and Exchange streets.

The shop in "Barbershop 2: Back in Business" is the eye in the middle of a gentrification storm on Chicago's South Side. A corporation is buying neighborhood properties and installing chain stores, including a Starbucks lookalike, a movie theater and an upscale hair salon called Nappy Cutz, directly across the street from the shop operated by Calvin (Ice Cube) and his father before him.

The barbers, customers and hangers-on are back, although former know-it-all Jimmy (Sean Patrick Thomas) has traded his blue smock for a suit and a job with a politician and a klutzy newcomer (Kenan Thompson) happily takes his place. Queen Latifah turns up as the operator of a women's salon next door, in what amounts to a product placement for another spin-off, "Beauty Shop," coming to theaters later this year.

The DVD of "Barbershop 2" ( ) has six deleted scenes, outtakes that generally consist of actors flubbing their lines, music videos, still photos and two commentaries. The first features cast members Cedric, Thomas, Troy Garity and Jazsmin Lewis, while the second teams director Kevin Rodney Sullivan with returning producers Robert Teitel and George Tillman Jr.

As Garity, who plays the egotistical barber Isaac, notes in the actors' commentary, "I imagine by the time you listen to this, you've already seen the movie." That's good, because periodically, a small shot of the actors is superimposed over the movie. Seeing that -- and hearing what the foursome had to say, which wasn't much -- prompted me to switch over to the fillmmaker chatter.

In addition to the usual isn't-that-actor-great talk, they reveal: The original script had flashbacks focusing on Calvin's father, but he wasn't as connected to the first movie, so they were switched to the popular Eddie. Sullivan, whose credits include "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" and who didn't direct the first picture, tried to create a sense of intimacy and relationships by using handheld cameras and lenses that captured characters in the foreground and background.

Letting Cedric riff is a good thing, unless he riffs right into R-rated territory. That's what happened when he ad-libbed a line on the elevated train, while sitting next to a squirming white passenger. Cedric redid the line, reining himself in from an R to a PG-13.

By shooting the sequel during the summer, rather than the winter as with the first film, the moviemakers could open up the story and explore the locale. They also found themselves with 150 onlookers while staging a cookout scene with most of the principals.

In case you're worried about actor Robert Wisdom, who gets an unintentional bald spot shaved into his head, don't. The actor, who plays the slippery Alderman Lalowe Brown, is actually bald and was wearing a wig, which then had a patch removed. And the reason Ice Cube wears a No. 40 jersey in some scenes? As sports fans instantly will know, it's in honor of Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers.

Is the sequel as funny and fresh as the first? No, but it has its audacious moments, evidence of a slightly fatter budget, a talented cast and a small, family-owned business you can't help but root for. The DVD, from MGM Home Entertainment, has a suggested retail price of $27.98.

ELSEWHERE

Rick Sebak's next special, "A Program About Unusual Buildings & Other Roadside Stuff," debuts Sunday at 8 p.m. on PBS stations across the country, and you can order a videotape or DVD from PBS's Web site, www.shoppbs.org. Type in the title under the search on the left-hand side of your screen and you'll find links to the tape and disc, priced at $29.99 and $24.99 respectively. Or you can call 1-800-PLAY-PBS to buy, too.

"Unusual Buildings" is an hourlong salute to wacky, distinctive roadside attractions such as a (really) big duck on Long Island, a hot-dog-shaped eatery in West Hollywood, a Kentucky pharmacy that is a giant mortar and pestle and other places that make drivers do double-takes. Sebak brings his characteristic curiosity and warmth to the subject, which gets the full TV book treatment this Sunday by TV editor Rob Owen.

A promotional poster for the show, by the way, says it's rated P for Playful and adds, in alliterative fashion: "Plenty of Promethean places in prodigious proportions positioned to produce a profit & to prevent passing by."

In other news, National Geographic Television & Film is releasing a much-requested episode from its "Ultimate Explorer" series. Called "China's Lost Girls," it follows host Lisa Ling as she travels to China to join American families meeting their new Chinese daughters.

It aired on cable's MSNBC on June 20 and reportedly generated thousands of phone calls and e-mails from parents of adopted Chinese daughters. To order the DVD, $19.95 plus shipping and handling, call 1-800-627-5162 or e-mail chinaslostgirls@ngs.org.

And if you're interested in old movies new to DVD, Fox Home Entertainment this week issued "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," which won Maggie Smith an Oscar for Best Actress. The digitally restored release features commentary from director Ronald Neame and actress Pamela Franklin.

Also new to DVD, from Paramount Home Entertainment: "Big Top Pee-wee" with Pee-wee Herman, "Crazy People" with Dudley Moore, "Critical Condition" with Richard Pryor, "Heartburn" with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, and "First Monday in October" with Walter Matthau. MGM weighs in with another Matthau movie, "Kotch," along with "The Greatest Story Ever Told," starring Max Von Sydow as Jesus, Charlton Heston as John the Baptist and a cast of hundreds.