In my head, Carleton Cinemas is very much like the second run cinemas (the Bloor, the Revue, etc) in Toronto, but they are not a second run cinema. While they never play classics or even just old fun movies, Carleton Cinemas does have an always rotating line up of new movies.
The great thing about the Carleton is that it's the only provider of independent films in the area. While it's not the best purveyor of such things, it certainly does a decent job, and more importantly it's the only one doing this job. The AMC doesn't play anything remotely independent, and the while the Varsity does do a good job of playing indie films, they don't always have the same selection that Carleton offers.