The 10 movies we’re most excited to see at the Sundance Film Festival

Have you seen that Instagram meme about wanting to skip ahead to 1995 instead of facing a new year, usually with an old high school photo? Director Tamra Davis (“Billy Madison,” “Crossroads,” “Half Baked”) is aiming for that same nostalgic feeling with her new documentary, “The Best Summer.” The film features previously unreleased concert footage, behind-the-scenes moments, and interviews from the 1995 Summersault festival in Australia. Davis was married to Mike D from the Beastie Boys at the time, and the festival lineup also included major alternative rock bands like Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, Pavement, Rancid, Beck, the Amps, and Bikini Kill. Interestingly, the footage was found while Davis was evacuating her home during the Malibu fire last January. — Vanessa Franko

‘Great British Baking Show’ judge Prue Leith departs competition after nine years

The popular baking expert, famous for her love of adding alcohol to her desserts and her bright, colorful style, announced on Wednesday that she’s leaving the show. In a post on Instagram, she said ‘The Great British Baking Show’ had been a wonderful experience for the past nine years, and she praised her fellow judge, Paul Hollywood, and hosts Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding.

Ryan Murphy’s The Beauty Is Wildly Entertaining and Surprisingly Smart

The new series kicks off with two episodes on January 21st, and its core idea strongly resembles the dark comedy horror film The Substance, a 2024 Best Picture nominee that garnered Oscar nods for director Coralie Fargeat and star Demi Moore. The series centers around a groundbreaking biotech product called The Beauty, which triggers dramatic physical changes – through a somewhat disturbing process involving a fleshy cocoon – transforming people who are old, sick, or considered unattractive into young, healthy, and beautiful versions of themselves. Most showrunners would likely try to distance their work from a recent, popular film. However, creator Greg Murphy is known for being bold. Interestingly, he cast Ashton Kutcher – famous both as an actor and a venture capitalist, and for marrying Demi Moore when she was 42 and he was 27 – as the mastermind behind The Beauty.