Inspiration

Film In a bizarre but pleasing movie, ITV4 broadcast a recording of last week's Independent Spirit Awards tonight. Apart from the absolutely excruciating red carpet preamble in which the likes of Angelica Houston and Andie McDowell looked somewhat embarrassed by the attentions of the presenter who was apparently a 'comedian' and 'flirting' it was entertaining stuff. Like The Baftas, it was largely a chance to see clips from lots of films I haven't seen although in this case it was, with the exception of the main categories, films I'll probably never see.

Which is a shame because most of them look to be a hundred times more interesting or entertaining than the dross that was released in the UK this week. The more I see that promo clip of Nic Cage explaining the plot of Ghost Rider to Eva Mendes, the most I'm thinking about selling my own soul to the devil, so that I can used a fiery sceptre to burn down all the multiplexes. I'm out of the habit of going to the cinema because of a general expectation that there's noting on and I might as well stay home and see what lovefilm decide to send through.

Sarah Silverman was a genial host but it looked like all of her best material was cut for time or content. Being about the only reason I would watch an episode of Star Trek: Voyager again, Silverman has that rare ability of being instantly funny without the smugness that sometimes entails. On this occasion though I think she was upstaged by Lily Tomlin's routine during the Robert Altman tribute in which the actress managed to do some Downey Jr. material whilst he was actually standing there.

Happy to see Pan's Labyrinth receive some Spirit for cinematography although it looked totally out of place next to all of the stories about small town America. Of course Little Miss Sunshine won everything, a film I avoided at the cinema because of the uk critical reaction which was generally pretty mixed. In accepting their awards everyone connected with the film stressed how difficult it had been to get the film into production and the reaction in the room at its mere mention suggested that they saw it as their collective representative in the majors, sorry The Oscars (TM).