Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1195815
7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 DECEMBER 2019 CULTURE ENVIRONMENT directed by him (that hon- our goes to Henry Selick) the Burton-produced The Nightmare Before Christmas injects Burton's vintage B- movie, Hollywood haunted house vibe to a kid-friendly but darkly romantic fairytale that pits the literal represen- tation of Halloween on a col- lision course with Christmas. Surely a gateway drug to more refined gothic splen- dour for many an impres- sionable kid, and Burton's earlier output certainly fits the bill there, with both Ed- ward Scissorhands and Bat- man Returns juxtaposing the season's cheerful cosmetics with dark, but really no less cosmetic, stylings. The Dark Horses One step above, or below, the Tim Burton films on the risque darkness scale are the true Christmas dark horses, for those of us who are par- tial to the overall atmospher- ics of the time but have no truck with its unquestioned sentimentality. Gremlins would be a good way to ease into it, and in fact the story of a cutesy super- natural critters who go ber- serk when they're fed after midnight straddles a danger- ously fine line between fam- ily-friendly entertainment and grisly-guilty joy. The more recent – and one of many – Krampus (2015) taps into a similar vein of dark comedy in employing the German folkloric 'anti- Santa', and the cynical defi- nitely shouldn't miss out on Bad Santa, starring Billy Bob Thornton as a hard-drinking shopping mall Santa who however does get to enjoy something of a redemption arc at the end. No such final uplift for the bona fide horror favour- ite Black Christmas, whose original 1974 version actually predates John Carpenter's Halloween, thus making it the prototype of the slasher genre. Its remake – directed by Sophia Takal and featur- ing an all-female cast led by Imogen Poots – can currently be enjoyed in local cinemas – an adrenaline-pumping, gory palate cleanser to get the blood pressure back up after all those artery-clogging fam- ily dinners. Die Hard Yes. Die Hard is a Christ- mas movie. Let's kill this debate right now and close the gap between us talking about, and us fully enjoying this glorious seasonal repast of exhilarating, funny and just downright fun survival machismo, which cemented Bruce Willis as a bona fide action hero and the dearly departed Alan Rickman as an eminently hissable villain figure. But it's the lines you'll remember, like "Ho, Ho, Ho – now I've got a shotgun!" and other stuff that may be a tad indecorous given the sea- son. Among the falcons that visit our rock, the common kes- trel (M. spanjulett) is one of the most regular. We see it most often in spring and autumn as it migrates north or south between continents, but almost every year one or two pairs also nest and raise a family in a hole in a cliff face. Some kestrels on their way south in autumn also try to overwinter here, but all too often they are shot dead by hunters who get their thrill by killing things. This is why every year BirdLife ends up with a sorry stream of injured kestrels (and other species), rescued by kind-hearted peo- ple who pass the birds on to us for care. Many of the birds die, of course, but thanks to the dedication of our rehab team some kestrels are nursed back to health and released back into the wild. One such heart-warming case was the recent release of five kestrels (and a merlin) on Comino this week. Happy Christmas. Text: Victor Falzon Photo: Kristina Govorukha 691. COMMON KESTREL Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation - www.foemalta.org/donate GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 589: Still doing your last minute Christmas present shopping? Read this article www.foemalta.org/blog/ ethical-gift-giving/ Black Christmas Bad Santa