David 'Big Papi' Ortiz Is Being Extorted By Hackers; Warns Fans Not To Accept Anything From Them

Guy Lodge Film Critic An Emmy-nominated documentary cinematographer with credits including “Procession” and “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” Robert Kolodny puts his expert eye for shooting nonfiction to playful narrative use in his feature directing debut “The Featherweight.” A meticulously designed, gutsily played biopic of world champion featherweight boxer Guglielmo Papaleo, better known as Willie Pep — covering not his 1940s glory days but his faltering attempt at a comeback two decades later — the film is convincingly fashioned as a candid all-access documentary, a promotional puff piece curdling before our eyes into an unintended study of mental breakdown. So convincingly, in fact, that uninformed viewers chancing upon “The Featherweight” on the festival circuit may wonder exactly what it is they’re watching, not least if — in a realization of Pep’s own glumly stated fears — they have no idea who this once-celebrated sportsman was.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Ozu Yasujiro, the leading Japanese film director behind classics including “Tokyo Story” and “Late Spring,” has had his double birth and death anniversaries – Ozu died in 1963 on the day of his 60th birthday, a little more than a year after the release of his last film “An Autumn Afternoon” – celebrated throughout 2023 at places as varied as the Cannes Film Festival, Los Angeles’ Margaret Herrick Library and the Taiwan Film & Audiovisual Institute. But it falls to October’s Tokyo International Film Festival to put on this year’s biggest and most comprehensive reconstruction of Ozu’s surprisingly varied career. Working in conjunction with the National Film Archive of Japan, the festival will present an extensive retrospective that covers almost all the films that Ozu directed (TIFF/NFAJ Classics: Ozu Yasujiro Week) from Oct. 24-29. Ozu spent his entire career, from camera assistant in 1923 to renown director in 1962, as an employee of major Japanese studio Shochiku, with all the advantages and disadvantages such an arrangement brought. While Ozu is best known for his stripped-down dramas, often centered on family relationships, sometimes troubled or contentious, involving parents and young or grown-up children, many hinging on questions of marriage, generational misunderstandings or the loneliness of the elderly, the director’s register may not entirely have been of his own choosing. “The apparent consistency of the post-war films surely owes as much to this production situation as to Ozu’s aesthetic choices,” wrote critic Tony Rayns in a recent Sight & Sound portrait.

William Earl Another day, more X drama, as Donald Trump Jr.’s account was hacked Wednesday morning and posted a series of wild messages, including one claiming his father, former president Donald Trump, died. The series of posts included “I’m sad to announce, my father Donald Trump has passed away.

K.J. Yossman SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments in the podcast “Hooked on Freddie,” currently available on Wondery, as well as the real tale it’s based on. Has there ever been a better elevator pitch than “dolphin sex scandal”? On the face of it, Wondery’s new podcast “Hooked on Freddie” is about precisely that. But the six-part series goes deeper, delving beneath the sensational headlines to investigate how a scurrilous rumor in the early 1990s nearly came to ruin a man’s life.

Naman Ramachandran MetFilm Sales has picked up worldwide rights (excluding U.K.) and will handle international sales on acclaimed documentary “Name Me Lawand” from “Gangs of London” producer Pulse Films. Directed by Edward Lovelace (“The Possibilities Are Endless”), the documentary, filmed over four years, follows Lawand Hamad Amin, who spent his early years in Iraq unable to hear or communicate. His profound deafness meant he could not learn language, and with no access to a deaf education, Lawand grew isolated and trapped inside himself.

Charna Flam Happy Hunger Games! Lionsgate has dropped the second trailer for “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” Based on Suzanne Collins’ prequel novel of the same name, the upcoming film follows a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth), who strives to revive his family’s legacy. In the midst of his efforts, he is tasked with mentoring District 12’s tribute and Panem’s favorite, Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler). Coriolanus works with Lucy to keep her alive in the Hunger Games, and he begins to battle between good and evil.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Chris Evans knows that critics hated “Ghosted,” his Apple original movie co-starring Ana de Armas. The film, directed by Dexter Fletcher, opened in April to abysmal reviews. It currently boasts a 26% Rotten Tomatoes score, and Variety called it “over-the-top and convoluted.” (Other critics, like IndieWire’s David Ehrlich, were even more brutal, calling the film “insultingly bland.”) In a new interview with GQ magazine, Evans admitted the film could’ve been better.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Steven Yeun has bucked stereotypes and carved a new niche as sexy Asian leading man with his roles in “Burning” and “Beef.” Justin Chon transitioned from a supporting role in “Twilight” to directing “Gook,” “Jamojaya” and half of Apple TV+’s “Pachinko.” And Busan-born Daniel Dae Kim has expanded from “Lost” and “Hawaii” to becoming one of Hollywood’s leading producers. The stateside successes of Korean-born and Korean American talent are growing and are worth celebrating. But the Busan International Film Festival’s planned party is being dialed down a notch under the impact of the twin writers’ and SAG Actors strikes in the U.S. Busan’s ‘Special Program in Focus: Korean Diasporic Cinema’ will go ahead with a screening schedule including six films, public talk sessions that include Oscar-winning actor Youn Yuh-jung, Lee Isaac Chung, director of Oscar-winning film “Minari,” and John Cho, the Seoul-born “Star Trek” and “Searching” star.

K.J. Yossman Sky boss Dana Strong has said she is “optimistic” that Warner Discovery will renew its content deal with the European cable service when it expires in three years.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of indie distributor Magnolia Pictures, has acquired North American rights to “The Seeding,” a new horror-thriller. It marks the feature directorial debut of Barnaby Clay and world premiered in Tribeca Midnight “The Seeding” is about a hiker who gets lost in the desert and seeks refuge with a woman who is living alone. He soon discovers that she might not be there willingly.

Meghan Markle turned many heads last week with her gorgeous array of outfits during the several Invictus Games events she attended in Düsseldorf.

Sherri Shepherd is strutting her stuff!

XG is a Japanese girl group based out of South Korea.

You’ll remember Apple TV+ was so gung-ho on its spy series, “Slow Horses” starring Academy Award winner Gary Oldman, they greenlit it for two seasons and shot them back-to-back and then released them both within the same year (April and December of 2022). Well, they also did the same with the renewal, announcing that seasons three and four of the critically acclaimed espionage drama would be greenlight and shot concurrently.

Comedian Bill Burr has arguably made an entire career out of being an out-of-touch crank, but don’t mistake him for Joe Rogan, Burr’s savvier (and much more tolerant) than that. And Burr has had three comedy specials on Netflix so far, so in a logical extension of that deal; he’s co-written his directorial debut, “Old Dads,” which pitches his regular routine of old dude who doesn’t love change and is confused about today’s culture in a new comedy.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is coming!

Economists across the country woke up to surprising new inflation figures this morning.

called “The Super Models,” which debuted Wednesday on Apple TV+ and follows Crawford as well as Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington as they reflect on their journey to “super” status. In the series, Crawford recalls her first-ever appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 1986 alongside her Elite Modeling Agency rep, John Casablancas.“Did she always have this body?” questioned Winfrey, 69, after introducing the fashion icon. “Stand up just a moment.”Smiling awkwardly, Crawford stands up from her chair to give the show’s audience a full view of her figure.“Now this is what I call a BODY,” exclaimed Winfrey.

Paris Fury has shared a snap of her trip to the hospital, hours before giving birth to her seventh child. Paris and her boxing champ husband Tyson Fury, welcomed a baby boy just a few days ago, with the mum-of-seven now sharing a pre-labour snap to Instagram.

Janet Street-Porter has dubbed herself a "diva" as she reveals her numerous on-set demands.The Loose Women panellist, 76, has shared that she likes having special treatment behind-the-scenes, including joining meetings remotely and having a long list of riders. She told The Daily Star: "They call me a diva. I’ve got my own list of requirements in my dressing room.

It's time for the wedding of Kat Slater and Phil Mitchell tonight, EastEnders spoilers have revealed.This is the second time that the pair will try and tie the knot, but this time, Phil is keeping a huge secret from Kat – the fact that he slept with Emma Harding behind her back last week. Keanu Taylor has been blackmailing Phil, saying that if he didn't get him access to his daughter Peggy, who is Phil's granddaughter, then he would tell Kat everything. However, as he went to spill the news on Kat's hen-do, Keanu's ex, Sharon Watts, stepped in and told him if he revealed to Kat what Phil had done, she wouldn't let him see their son Albie anymore.

Jeff Brazier shared a rare selfie with youngest son Freddie - and fans were left gobsmacked by how alike they looked. TV presenter Jeff, 44, had two children with late Big Brother star Jade Goody, who tragically died from cervical cancer in 2009.

Sky CEO Dana Strong has said she is “optimistic” that the company’s UK unit can keep hold of HBO content when its deal with Warner Bros. Discovery comes up for renewal in 2026.

Desperate Housewives star and producer Eva Longoria will deliver a joint keynote at Mipcom Cannes next month.

Bjørn Gulden, chief executive of Adidas, has given his first in-depth public comment on the fallout of his company’s relationship with Kanye West following the rapper-designer’s repeated antisemitic outbursts last year. 

EXCLUSIVE: Broadway producer Dale A. Mott (A Strange Loop, The Piano Lesson, Thoughts of a Colored Man) and real estate investor/philanthropist Charles D. Urstadt have formed Edgewood Entertainment, a new multimedia production company focused on supporting works by historically marginalized people, including the BIPOC and LBGTQIA+ communities and female artists.

YouTube’s European boss Pedro Pina has said that Russell Brand won’t be silenced after the streaming service demonetized his channel amid sexual assault allegations.

Gary Oldman and the Slow Horses gang return with the first two episodes of Season 3 on December 1 with new episodes to be released individually each Friday through December 29 via Apple.

Egypt has selected comedy Voy! Voy! Voy! as its candidate for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

The Prime Minister will deliver a speech today in Downing Street at 4.30pm.

Anyone who's been to an airport knows how hectic it can be, especially one as big as Manchester's.

Martin Lewis has issued a warning for motorists over soaring car insurance costs.

Gemma Atkinson has made clear that she, her fiance Gorka Marquez and their Strictly Come Dancing pals Janette Manrara and Aljaz Skorjanec aren't just doting parents. The two sets of loving parents are currently in newborn bubbles after welcoming their children just days apart.

Selena Gomez is letting her feelings be known.

Sky’s docseries “House of Kardashian,” which is set to be released on Oct. 8.A trailer for the tell-all series teases an interview with Jenner, 73, claiming that her former stepdaughter Kim Kardashian “calculated” famefrom early on.“Kimberly calculated from the beginning, ‘How do I become famous?’” Jenner states.She also utters an evil laugh when asked what it was like working with Kris, who managed Caitlyn’s career after the Olympic decathlon in 1976.“I was happy to participate in the interview process to share my side which points to the strength, influence, and prowess my family has in captivating the world’s attention and keeping it over the years,” Caitlyn said in a statement on her decision to participate in “House of Kardashian.”“I am incredibly proud of all my children and stepchildren,” she added.Caitlyn is stepdad to Kim, Khloe, Kourtney and Robert Kardashian.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead! Do not proceed unless you’ve watched all episodes from Seasons 1, 2, 3 and 4 of “Love Is Blind.”Love may be blind, but it doesn’t always last.“Love Is Blind,” hosted by real-life married couple, Nick and Vanessa Lachey, debuted in 2020 with a simple idea. Singles hoping to be loved for who they are and not what they look like, signed up for a less conventional approach to modern dating.Throughout 10 addictive episodes, the hit Netflix reality dating series followed these romantic hopefuls as they dated and became engaged sight unseen, based only on an emotional connection created in pods.