Karl 
First D.J.: "Rise and shine, campers and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today."
Second D.J.: "It's cold out there every day. What is this, Miami Beach?"
First D.J.: "Not hardly. So the big question on everybody's lips…"
Second D.J.: "On their chapped lips…"
First D.J.: "…their chapped lips is, 'Does Phil feel lucky?' Punxsatawney Phil! That's right, woodchuck chuckers, it's…
(IN UNISON): GROUNDHOG DAY!!!"
Sunday, Punxsutawney Phil — the Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary will predict whether we will have six more weeks of winter. According to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, Phil has seen his shadow 103 times, and hasn't seen it (predicting an early spring) only 18 times. Phil's track record is hotly disputed. In general, Groundhogs Do Not Make Good Meteorologists. Nevertheless, thousands will await the sunrise and the groundhog at Gobbler's Knob in the tiny Pennsylvania hamlet that has become known as the "Weather Capital of the World," due in no small part to the movie that makes every day Groundhog Day.
This is one time where the Internet really fails to capture the true excitement of a movie about a large squirrel predicting the weather. However, you can see the trailer as a refresher (while BuzzFeed compiles trivia).
In 2005, Roger Ebert revisited Groundhog Day, declaring that the film "finds its note and purpose so precisely that its genius may not be immediately noticeable. It unfolds so inevitably, is so entertaining, so apparently effortless, that you have to stand back and slap yourself before you see how good it really is."
At the other end of the political spectrum, Jonah Goldberg's equally effusive movie meditation grabbed the cover of National Review: "When I set out to write this article, I thought it'd be fun to do a quirky homage to an offbeat flick, one I think is brilliant as both comedy and moral philosophy. But while doing what I intended to be cursory research — how much reporting do you need for a review of a twelve-year-old movie that plays constantly on cable? — I discovered that I wasn't alone in my interest. In the years since its release the film has been taken up by Jews, Catholics, Evangelicals, Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans, and followers of the oppressed Chinese Falun Gong movement."
Indeed, a 2004 article mentioned by Ebert (but not linked) from London's Independent observes that the Harold Ramis comedy has been hailed by some religious leaders as the most spiritual film of all time. More examples can be found at the NYT and the Christian Science Monitor.
As Phil Connors ultimately observed: "When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn't imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter."
ACCORDINGLY, we conclude:
…with Sonny & Cher on Hullabaloo and famously on Letterman years later, plus UB40 with Chrissie Hynde, not to mention The Cynics (from the Bonograph tribute CD), and David Bowie & Marianne Faithfull.
NEW RELEASES: Paste will point you to Lande Hekt, Joyce Manor, and more.
BILL'S INDIE BASEMENT has GUV, Cast and more.
SUEDE debuts "Tribe" in Portsmouth.
BON IVER shares a live version of "Naeem (Can’t You Hear Crying).”
EARTH TONGUE shares "Silver Tongue."
THE RISE OF SHOEGAZE AND SLACKER ROCK, documented by Simon Reynolds.
THE GRAMMY AWARDS went to these folks. Congrats! Especially to Steven Spielberg, who achieved EGOT status.
CATHERINE O'HARA, the two-time Emmy-winning actor who starred in “Home Alone” and “Best in Show” and had an impressive late-career renaissance in “Schitt’s Creek,” has died. She was 71. Here's the NYT obit. And the THR obit, along with some of the avalanche of tributes. And here's a 2019 interview surveying a ot of her career.
DESMOND WILSON, who starred alongside Redd Foxx and answered to “Hey, Dummy” for six seasons on the wildly popular 1970s NBC sitcom Sanford and Son, has died. He was 79.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Sam Raimi's Send Help tops the chart with 20MM, edging out Iron Lung (made by a YouTuber) which placed with 17.8MM. Melania showed with 7MM, which is about the best a documentary has done in a decade, though it's not going to make back the 75MM in purchase and marketing costs Jeff Bezos paid for it.
MEL BROOKS: Still Laughing at 99.
MOLLY RINGWALD says John Hughes didn't want his films remade.
KENAN THOMPSON ponders his time at Saturday Night Live coming to an end.
FILM STUDENTS are having a hard time sitting through movies.
COWS IN JAMMIES always reminds me of Top Secret.
LEARNING TO CRAWL from the dog.
A GREAT DANE PUP gets scared while watching a movie and cuddles up with his favorite human.
A DUCKLING enjoys a playground slide.
