Epoch Watchlist: Recommended Viewing for April 25–May 1
This week, we explore a visually stunning animated epic and a gripping adventure that celebrates the bond between man and nature.
New Release
'The King of Kings'
A father's evening tale becomes an adventure as his son imagines traveling with Jesus—witnessing wonders, facing trials, and grasping his sacrifice. Through a child's eyes, it rekindles timeless themes of belief, compassion, and renewal.
Visually rich and spiritually grounded, this animated epic unfolds with reverence and beauty. Oscar Isaac brings warmth and depth to Jesus, while Kenneth Branagh's narration adds grace. Rather than chase spectacle, it leans into sincerity—drawing you in with tender moments and enduring truth.
Animation | Family
Release Date:
April 11, 2025
Director:
Seong-ho Jang
Starring:
Pierce Brosnan, Oscar Isaac, Kenneth Branagh
Running Time:
1 hour, 43 minutes
MPAA Rating:
PG
Where to Watch:
Theaters
Rated
: 5 stars out of 5
Family Pick
'White Fang'
Jack Conroy (Ethan Hawke) ventures into the rugged Yukon to fulfill his late father's dream, joined by prospector Alex Larson (Klaus Maria Brandauer). Along the way, Jack rescues a mistreated wolf-dog, setting the stage for a powerful story of survival, friendship, and personal growth in the wild.
With stunning Alaskan landscapes and a standout performance from Hawke, this film captures the essence of adventure and heart. The bond forged between Jack and his wolf feels authentic, making their scenes both touching and memorable.
Adventure | Drama | Family
Release Date:
Jan. 18, 1991
Director:
Randal Kleiser
Starring:
Ethan Hawke, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Jed the wolfdog
Running Time:
1 hour, 47 minutes
MPAA Rating:
PG
Where to Watch:
YouTube, Amazon, Apple TV
Rated:
3 1/2 stars out of 5
A Love Torn Asunder
'Atonement'
Saoirse Ronan plays Briony Tallis, whose youthful misunderstanding sparks a tragic series of events. Briony's actions disrupt the lives of her sister Cecilia (Kiera Knightley) and Robbie (James McAvoy), tearing apart their future together.
This film adaptation captures the essence of the Ian McEwan's novel of the same name, while skillfully condensing it for the screen. It's not for those seeking quick thrills, but for anyone who appreciates complex characters and a plot that unfolds at a thoughtful pace. It's one of 2008's finest.
Related Stories
4/17/2025
4/13/2025
Drama | Romance | War
Release Date:
Jan. 11, 2008
Director:
Joe Wright
Starring:
Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Brenda Blethyn
Running Time:
2 hours, 3 minutes
MPAA Rating:
PG
Where to Watch:
YouTube, Amazon, Apple TV
Rated:
4 stars out of 5
Falling for the Fall Guy
'The Lady Eve'
Barbara Stanwyck charms as Jean Harrington, a con artist who falls for wealthy, naive Charles (Henry Fonda). When he spurns her, she returns in disguise as the elegant Lady Eve, mixing romance and revenge.
This is a playful battle of wits and hearts, driven by Stanwyck's magnetic charm and Fonda's awkwardness. Their unlikely pairing sparkles with mischief under Preston Sturges's clever direction and screen play.
Screwball Comedy | Romance
Release Date:
March 21, 1941
Director:
Preston Sturges
Starring:
Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn
Running Time:
1 hour, 34 minutes
Not Rated
Where to Watch:
Amazon, YouTube, Apple TV
Rated:
3 1/2 stars out of 5
What arts and culture topics would you like us to cover? Please email ideas or feedback to
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
‘Etoile' Canceled at Amazon After One Season — Despite Two-Season Order
Amazon's Prime Video has canceled Étoile after a single season — even though the streamer had initially asked for two. The news comes about six weeks after the series, from Marvelous Mrs. Maisel creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, premiered its full eight-episode season. Étoile is set in the world of ballet and centers on the heads of historic but struggling companies in New York and Paris (played by Maisel alum Luke Kirby and Charlotte Gainsbourg) who decide to swap their principal dancers. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'The Better Sister' Stars React to Murder Mystery Reveal: "They Totally Threw Me Off and I Was There" 'Lee Soo Man: King of K-Pop' Director and Subject Talk New Prime Video Documentary "It's Just for the Pure Love of This Art Form": 'THR Frontrunners' Panel With 'Étoile' Showrunners Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino Prime Video gave the show a two-season, straight-to-series order in 2023 as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was in its final season. Such deals often have contingencies, however, by which a streamer or network can opt out after part of a multi-season order. That was the case with Étoile. In the three weeks of Étoile's release for which data is available, the show has not dented Nielsen's top 10 streaming charts. That would make a second season of the pricey series, which filmed on location in New York and Paris, a tough sell. Amazon MGM Studios, which produces the show and where the Palladinos have an overall deal, is also going through a leadership change: Former studio head Jen Salke, who greenlit Étoile, left Amazon in late March (though she struck a producing deal on her way out). TV chief Vernon Sanders and film boss Courtenay Valenti continue to run their respective divisions, now reporting directly to Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and the studio, rather than Salke. Along with Kirby and Gainsbourg, Étoile stars Gideon Glick, Lou de Laâge, David Alvarez, Ivan du Pontavice, Taïs Vinolo, David Haig, LaMay Zhang and Simon Callow. Sherman-Palladino and Palladino executive produced the series with Dhana Rivera Gilbert. Scott Ellis was co-EP. Deadline first reported the news. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
WWE's First Crossover With AAA Locks Down 4.1M Viewers In 24 Hours As Company's First Full In-Ring YouTube Broadcast
The WWE set a new audience record with its first AAA crossover event since acquiring the leading Mexican lucha libre promotion in April. Worlds Collide drew the largest live audience on a YouTube broadcast in WWE history, per the company. Advertisement More from Deadline The average live viewership wasn't disclosed, though the company did say that the June 7 event at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles peaked at 764,389 live concurrent viewers across the WWE and WWE Espańol YouTube channels during the main event between El Hijo del Vikingo and Chad Gable. Additionally, Saturday's broadcast has raked in more than 4.1M viewers on YouTube in the first 24 hours. Worlds Collide marked the first full in-ring show that the WWE has streamed live on YouTube. The company's main channel boasts more than 109M subscribers, making it one of the most powerful on the platform. Advertisement This is a strong start for the collaboration between the WWE and AAA. It also illustrates the power of YouTube. YouTube consistently ranks as the top streamer in the U.S., far outpacing its competitors, including Netflix, in terms of monthly average usage time. It is also on pace to surpass even Disney's revenue by the end of the year to become the top global player in media, per one veteran Wall Street Analyst. The positive performance here potentially opens the door for more YouTube broadcasting opportunities within the WWE as it continues to expand its brand and leverage a vast array of properties from its main events to weekly offerings. Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
USA Today
3 hours ago
- USA Today
'I always expect to be in the NCAA Tournament': Texas A&M coach previews season ahead
'I always expect to be in the NCAA Tournament': Texas A&M coach previews season ahead After a tremendous kickstart to the Bucky McMillan era at Texas A&M, the first-year head coach sat down with college basketball insider Jon Rothstein to talk some ball this afternoon. McMillan comes to Bryan-College Station, Texas, after leading Samford to historic success over the last few years, including the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2000. Now, he is looking to lead the Aggies' men's basketball program to new heights with no signs of slowing down his preparations anytime soon. Here is everything McMillan said on Rothstein's podcast on the CBS Sports College Basketball YouTube channel: Q: How did Henry Ward McMillan III become Bucky? "I was called that since birth, my dad's name was Bucky. I don't know why it's not on my birth certificate because they knew they were going to call me that. My dad was called that so I don't know. If it wasn't so hard to get a name change, I might do it. My dad was named after a baseball player named Bucky Harris back in the day so there you go." Q: Does life feel like a movie right now for Bucky McMillan? "It's gone so fast, I haven't had time to really think, but I mean, basketball is basketball. Someone asked me that the other day. Coaching at Texas A&M is awesome, but still the same feeling I had coaching JV basketball in terms of treating every job like that's your group, that's your team and let's go. I know when I coach JV basketball, this is the world I live in and this is the most important thing in my sports world. Now, the SEC is the most important thing in my world and Texas A&M being my focus." Q: If your life were a movie, who would play Bucky McMillan? "The guy from Punk'D. Ashton Kutcher that guy." Q: What was it like connecting being the Samford head coach, to then getting offered the job at Texas A&M? "There's a lot of similarities in Texas to the Alabama people, like real chill, down-to-earth people. I love College Station. It's just an easy town to kind of acclamate to. People are welcoming and it's great being undefeated. When you're undefeated everybody loves you. I haven't had to pay for a dinner yet so I need to push this season back as long as possible. It's a great place and I think it's got everything it takes to win in every sport here and have success in every sport. The new era of college athletics, I don't think every university is going to be able to do that. They're going to have to pick and choose. This place can compete for championships in every sport in the SEC I believe." Q: When the job opened, did you say to yourself I think this is one I am going to have a chance at? "You never know. In the South, you never know how the dominoes will fall. I know it's one that I would have to take and I'd want. I talked to our athletic director, obviously the coaching carousel moves and there's opportunities you're involved with. My athletic director at Samford, a guy named Martin Newton, who's a big guy in my life. There's been jobs I've asked him about he said besides the money, I don't know about that one for you. When we talked about Texas A&M, he was like, I don't want to see you go, but man... that's a place you could go and I think you'd be really, really successful there. When he kind of gave me the go-ahead that would be a place where I'd fit and it fit me, I was all-in to being out here." Q: What exactly is "Bucky Ball"? "When I was coaching high school basketball in Alabama back in the day, all the coaches in the suburban schools they played in the 30s and 40s. Really slow, ran the flex, no shot clock, shoot it after a minute and I was committed to, if I coached, I would never do that. We were going to trap until they shot the ball, shoot as quickly as possible, take a lot of threes and so a lot of old-school coaches in the area use to say that as a negative. Like it wasn't disciplined if you played fast and shoot threes. We started winning a lot and it became known as a positive in the community where I lived in. Basically, up-tempo basketball and shoot a lot of threes. You see more and more of it today, but 15 years ago some people thought a three-point shot would be a bad shot. We've always been a high-volume three-point shooting team, up-tempo team. Q: What coaches did Bucky McMillan study to learn his own offensive system? "I played for a great college coach in Duane Reboul who was the coach of Birmingham-Southern, they were in the Big South at the time. He won two NAI National Championships before that. He was kind of the same way, early three-point shooting before that was popular, spacing the floor and so I studied him a lot. There's some college coaches now that are my competitors, I can't say too much about. I can't hurt myself in the recruiting game, but there's some guys that I'm friends with in the business, one of them had a similar route to me. Nate (Oats) at Alabama, I'll go ahead and say it. I've watched them analytically and we're kind of into the anayltics before the analytics were the analytics." Q: What are the impressions of the roster you've put together at Texas A&M? "We did as good as we could possibly do when we got hired. Our staff, when we got everybody in place, supporting us and the way we had to go about this. I am not saying that this will be the best team we will ever assemble, but I will say is I am very proud of what we were able to do based on when you're looking at the supply and demand chain at the time we got hired." Q: What most excites you about the talent you've assembled in College Station? "That we're a good shooting team. That's what I see when I watch them. We have a lot of good shooting and when you have that you're capable of beating anybody. You want more than that obviously or you're capable of losing to anybody, but I certaintly think it's a team you'll see make 20-plus threes in some games this year. If it became between one or the other, like a team that could lose to some teams but also a team that could knock off some the best team in the country, give me that team because we all know to make a run to the tournament you're going to have to pull that. We know the goal of what this is. Basketball is a postseason sport, a tournament sport. If we can do our job getting to the tournament, it's your path. You just got to have one of those two games where you shoot it extremely well and these guys we have their capable. We have multiple guys that I think could shoot over 40% from three-point land." Q: What are your feelings knowing that you're a couple of months away from being a head coach and competing in the SEC? "It's a great league to be in because of what you said. You're goal is to get in the NCAA Tournament and you're goal is to win the NCAA Tournament. If you can compete at a high level in the SEC, which was the best league in college basketball last year and arguably the best league ever assembled, you got a chance certaintly when the majority of the teams are making it to the tournament. If you're in this league, iron sharpens iron. If you can compete at a high level in this league it's special, but if you get in the tournament after being in this league, you're going to be tournament ready." Q: What crumbs can Buck McMillan share on Texas A&M's non-conference schedule for the 2025-2026 season? "We're going with the 8-5 model, so we will play five Power Five teams total and eight non-power fives." Q: Based on the personnel that you've assembled after one shooting workout, is making the NCAA Tournament a realistic goal for the Aggies coming up here in 2026? "Yeah I certaintly think it is. People forget sometimes, A&M was playing for an SEC Championship and in the championship game. Like you said 14 of the 16 teams got in, and this year it's just going to be about this team coming together. I always expect to be in the NCAA Tournament. When I was in mid-major I was expecting to be in the NCAA Tournament. I dang sure to be in it at Texas A&M and I expect when we get there, to win there. I think all these guys we recruited expect the same way." The finishing touches on the Texas A&M men's basketball schedule are yet to be implemented, but the newly transformed roster is geared up and raring to hit the court in Reed Arena. Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Dylan on X: @dylanmflippo.
