Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1197486
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 JANUARY 2020 FILM ENVIRONMENT BLACK CHRISTMAS BLACK JESUS BLACK METAL BLACK NUMBER ONE FADE TO BLACK ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ As its name suggests, the snow bunting is one customer you don't normally associate with our sizzling rock. This small sparrow-sized bird is more typical of arctic climate, the kind you find way up north in Iceland and Scandinavia where it breeds. They inhabit rocky moors, bare mountains, tundra and other open treeless habitat. For winter, however, snow buntings do the sensible thing and travel south a bit to escape the worst of the bitter cold, but they don't usually travel as far south as the Mediterranean region. In Malta the snow bunting (M. durrajsa bajda) has been recorded very rarely, but in recent weeks two different birds have been spotted. One of them is the smart individual in the photograph, which was seen and enjoyed by birdwatchers and naturalists in the closing days of 2019. An excellent gift for the new year! Text: Victor Falzon Photo: Aron Tanti 693. SNOW BUNTING Sneak, stalk, stab: Imogen Poots' Riley is forced to confront her trauma head- on after the return of her rapist on campus coincides with a spate of murders Choke the woke: Aleyse Shannon faces the chop 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 591: Find out more and try our delicious recipe: www.foemalta.org/goodfood The verdict While it boasts none of the gritty atmospherics and fore- boding sense of mystery that hangs over the 1974 original like a sharpened bunch of poisoned mistletoe, Sophia Takal and April Wolfe's riff on similar ideas and iconogra- phy slams into the contempo- rary zeitgeist with zesty gusto, crafting a 'hell yeah' feminist rebuttal to current forms of toxic misogyny while remain- ing within the realm of pulpy slasher horror. It's not without its silliness and moments of pure cringe, but nobody will be able to call this remake redun- dant or irrelevant. ★ ★ ★ BLACK CHRISTMAS (15)