I review BLOOD WORK (2002) – starring Clint Eastwood and Jeff Daniels!

Posted on May 28, 2025 by Bradley Crain

Here at The Shattered Lens, we’re celebrating Clint Eastwood’s 95th birthday on May 31st. As part of that celebration, I decided to revisit his 2002 film, BLOOD WORK.

BLOOD WORK finds Clint Eastwood as retired FBI profiler, Terry McCaleb (Clint Eastwood), a man who has recently had a heart transplant. Despite the wishes of his doctor Bonnie Fox (Angelica Huston), the beautiful Graciella Rivers (Wanda De Jesus) is able to guilt McCaleb into investigating the death of her sister, Gloria, when she reveals to him that it’s her sister’s heart that is now beating in his chest. Unable to drive due to his heart condition, McCaleb hires his goofy next-boat neighbor Buddy (Jeff Daniels) as his driver. The two set out to find any clue or follow any lead they come across. Eventually McCaleb is able to uncover that Gloria’s killer may be the “Code Killer,” the very same killer that he was after when his heart gave out on him, forcing his retirement. He’s going to do everything he can to catch the killer this time, even if it kills him in the process!

BLOOD WORK puts Clint Eastwood smack dab in the middle of one of my favorite genres, the serial killer film, and the result is somewhat of a mixed bag. On the positive side, it contains a really good performance from a 72 year old Clint Eastwood as the retired FBI guy and recent heart transplant recipient. This character trait strips away Eastwood’s ability to be a Superman as he has been so many times before in his career. As a matter of fact, we feel his pain when a big Russian throws him down, or when he has to dive out of the way of a car trying to run him over. We worry for him when he gets a fever, which could actually kill him. But even in his fragile state, every so often he’ll grab a shotgun and start blasting away at the inhabitant of a car he sees watching him. His character has to rely on his intellect more than his strength and Eastwood is fun to watch in the role, with his performance the highlight of the movie. Of the other performances, I really like Angelica Huston in the relatively small role of his doctor. You believe that she really wants him to get better, and she’s pissed off that he’s gotten himself involved in this murder investigation. I’m not that impressed with Jeff Daniels here. I normally like his work, so I think the problem is that his character isn’t written that well. Wanda De Jesus is a lovely woman, and she has some good moments, but there are a couple of times that she’s way over dramatic, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

As I mentioned earlier, I usually enjoy serial killer movies, and I did enjoy BLOOD WORK. It hits most of the expected notes of the genre… the serial killer taunting the lawman, the visits to the family members of the victims, the sudden discovery of clues / evidence, the eleventh hour reveal of the killer, etc. With Eastwood at the center of it all as both actor and director, you can’t really go wrong even if the movie does drag some during its middle portion. And even though it’s presented as a whodunit, there’s not a lot of mystery to the identity of the killer. I suspect most filmgoers will figure it out before the final reveal. But at the end of the day, BLOOD WORK is definitely worth a viewing for fans of Clint Eastwood and fans of serial killer movies. Not his best work, but still better than most!

I’ve included the trailer for BLOOD WORK below:

Scenes That I Love: “Bond. James Bond” from Dr. No (in honor of Ian Fleming’s birthday)

Posted on May 28, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

117 years ago today, Ian Fleming was born in Mayfair, London. A member of British Intelligence during World War II, Fleming is today best-remembered as the creator of James Bond.

Today’s scene that I love comes from 1962’s Dr. No. Here is Sean Connery, in his first appearance as Fleming’s iconic secret agent. Eunice Gray was cast as Sylvia Trench, who was originally envisioned as being Bond’s permanent “London” girlfriend. She also appeared in From Russia With Love before the idea was abandoned. We all know that Bond’s true love was Tracy di Vincenzo.

Brad’s “Scene of the Day” – Eastwood & Kennedy have a beer on top of the “Totem Pole!”

Posted on May 27, 2025 by Bradley Crain

I enjoyed Clint Eastwood’s 1975 film, THE EIGER SANCTION. The movie features many visually stunning shots. The one I’m sharing today is the scene where Clint Eastwood and George Kennedy climb the famous “Totem Pole” in Arizona’s Monument Valley. The scene is breathtaking, but watching it made me weak in the knees. It finishes with a little beer humor that I enjoyed.

Interestingly, this production was the last time anyone has been legally allowed to climb the “Totem Pole.” Why anyone would want to is beyond me. SCARY!! In exchange for permission to film there, climbers with the production had to remove all of the metal spikes, or pitons, which had accumulated from years of climbing. Legend has it that some adventurous folks have climbed it since then, but they were being unlawful with each step, tug and pull!

Enjoy, my friends!

I review THE EIGER SANCTION (1975) – starring Clint Eastwood and George Kennedy!

Posted on May 27, 2025 by Bradley Crain

Here at The Shattered Lens, we’re definitely celebrating Clint Eastwood’s May 31st birthday. As part of that celebration, I decided to revisit his 1975 film, THE EIGER SANCTION.

Clint Eastwood is art professor Jonathan Hemlock, a retired assassin, who agrees to take one last “sanction” from a shadowy agency to avenge his friend’s death. A skilled mountain climber, Hemlock learns that the killer is part of a group of men who are attempting to climb the treacherous Eiger mountain in Switzerland. The Eiger has defeated Hemlock two times already, but he’s hoping the third time will be the charm. He goes to see his friend Ben (George Kennedy) in Arizona, who gets him in the shape he needs to be in to climb the Eiger. The time finally comes to go to Switzerland, climb the mountain, identify the man who killed his friend, and take him out. None of it goes easy, and Hemlock can only hope he will live long enough to avenge his friend!

THE EIGER SANCTION finds Clint Eastwood in James Bond territory. The “agency” is run by the over-the-top albino villain “Dragon,” who can never see any daylight, but seems to enjoy the sanctioning of death. He sends a beautiful woman named Jemima Brown (Vonetta McGee) to steal Hemlock’s money and put him in no position to turn down the agency’s request. Luckily for Hemlock, in true Bond fashion, the beautiful “Aunt” Jemima decides to bed him as part of her assignment. I must admit that I found myself quite enraptured by the beautiful Vonetta McGee. This is some pretty good stuff, but I prefer my 70’s Bond action to come from Sean Connery or Roger Moore. Eastwood is always great (the man had the best head of hair in the business), but I enjoy his movies more when they’re set in the real world of cops and criminals. It’s still a fun movie, and I especially like Hemlock’s relationship with Kennedy. There are some amazing shots of Eastwood and Kennedy in Arizona’s Monument Valley as they prepare for the Eiger and drink some warm beer together on the Totem Pole rock formation! The shots of the men climbing the Eiger are also amazing, but we don’t really know the characters so the drama isn’t strong during this portion of the film. The visuals are absolutely amazing though. The final reveal of the man that Hemlock is after isn’t very surprising. Any person who has seen more than a couple of “mystery” films will figure it out quite easily.

At the end of the day, I enjoyed THE EIGER SANCTION. Eastwood is always worth watching and this film contains several moments of his unique toughness and dry sense of humor. It’s just not as engaging as his very best work. Eastwood is tying to do something a little different, and while I commend him for that, it’s not quite as good as his other work during this time. I’d still give a solid 7 out of 10. The trailer is included below:

Scenes That I Love: Vincent Price In The Fly

Posted on May 27, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Fly (1958, D: Kurt Neumann)

One of the great things about the original, 1958 version of The Fly is that, even though it starred Vincent Price, Price didn’t play the Fly. Instead, for once, Price was allowed to be the voice of reason, the guy who said, “Maybe don’t mess around with the laws of time and space.”

Today’s scene that I love is from the ending of the original Fly. Supposedly, Price had a hard time filming this scene because whenever he heard the recording of David Hedison crying out, “Help me!,” he would start laughing. Still, if you know what spiders actually do to the flies that they capture, you can’t help but sympathize with our misdirected scientist in the web. Destroying him with a rock was probably the most merciful thing that anyone could do.

In honor of Vincent Price, on what would have been his birthday, here is a scene that I love.

6 Shots From 6 Christopher Lee Films

Posted on May 27, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

Today, we honor the legacy of a man who was not just a great horror star but also a great actor. period Christopher Lee worked with everyone from Laurence Olivier to Steven Spielberg to Peter Jackson to Martin Scorsese. Though he turned own the chance to play Dr. No, Lee later did go play a Bond villain in The Man with The Golden Gun. He was one of those actors who was always great, even if the film wasn’t.

That said, it’s for his horror films that Lee is best known. He was the scariest Dracula and the most imposing Frankenstein’s Monster. He played mad scientists, decadent aristocrats, and even the occasional hero. Christopher Lee was an actor who could do it all and today, on what would have been his birthday, we honor him with….

6 Shots From 6 Christopher Lee Films

The Horror of Dracula (1958, dir by Terence Fisher, DP: Jack Asher)

Count Dracula (1970, dir by Jess Franco, DP: Manuel Merino and Luciano Trasatti)

Horror Express (1972, dir by Eugenio Martin, DP: Alejandro Ulloa)

The Wicker Man (1973, dir by Robert Hardy. DP: Harry Waxman)

The Man With The Golden Gun (1974, dir by Guy Hamilton, DP: Ted Moore and Oswald Morris)

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001, dir by Peter Jackson, DP: Andrew Lesnie)

Brad’s “Scene of the Day” – Jay Leno interviews the SPACE COWBOYS!

Posted on May 26, 2025 by Bradley Crain

One of the funniest scenes in SPACE COWBOYS (2000) takes place when Jay Leno interviews the characters of Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood), Hawk Hawkins (Tommy Lee Jones), Jerry O’Neill (Donald Sutherland) and Tank Sullivan (James Garner). The scene I’m referring to involves a question asked of “babe magnet” Jerry O’Neill. Only a few moments of Jay Leno’s material made it into the completed film, but the interview was filmed in front of a real Tonight Show audience. Leno made monologue jokes about Viagra, Matlock (1986), and prostate problems. Leno ad-libbed with the actors like he would in a real interview. I’ve included the additional scenes here!

I review SPACE COWBOYS (2000) – starring Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner!

Posted on May 26, 2025 by Bradley Crain

Here at The Shattered Lens, we’re definitely celebrating Clint Eastwood’s May 31st birthday. As part of that celebration, I decided to revisit his 2000 film, SPACE COWBOYS.

SPACE COWBOYS opens in 1958 on the day that Air Force Test Pilot Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood) and his team of Hawk Hawkins (Tommy Lee Jones), Jerry O’Neill (Donald Sutherland), and Tank Sullivan (James Garner) find out that their test program is being shutdown due to the formation of NASA. Their dreams of someday making it to space are crushed, and to make it worse, they were stabbed in the back by their leader Bob Gerson (James Cromwell) and not invited to be part of NASA’s new testing program. Fast forward to the present time, where a Soviet communications satellite seems to be unresponsive and NASA is working with Russian General Vostov (Rade Serbedzija) to figure out how to keep it from crashing back to Earth. The satellite is a relic of the Cold War that somehow ended up with a guidance system on board that’s so old that it was designed by Frank, and the young folks don’t know how to work with it. And to complicate things even further, the guidance system can only be fixed on site, which means in space. So it seems that NASA finally needs Frank after all this time, and he’ll only agree to help if he’s able to bring his old team on board. Their old nemesis Bob, the project’s manager at NASA, reluctantly agrees. We see that he’s still the same bastard he’s always been as he and General Vostov are holding back critical information about the cargo of the satellite. So let the training and preparation for the mission begin!

The premise of SPACE COWBOYS may not be very realistic, but I think it’s one hell of a fun movie, especially during its first half. I really enjoy watching this amazing cast of veteran actors do their thing. Of course they get the cool walk into NASA headquarters wearing sunglasses and leather jackets, while N’ Sync’s “Space Cowboy” plays over the soundtrack. Clint Eastwood plays the character he has perfected over his career, that of the tough, grizzled leader with a dry sense of humor. Tommy Lee Jones is the fearless hotshot who has never been good at following orders, but has the kind of talent that everyone wishes they had. Jones is actually by far the youngest of the primary cast, a full 16 years younger than Eastwood. Donald Sutherland gets some of the best laughs as the ladies man of the team. The scene where he answers Jay Leno’s question about his reputation as a lothario made me laugh out loud! James Garner’s character became a Baptist minister after his days with the Air Force and prays often for the group. He’s good here, but his character is the least memorable. With their mission labeled “The Ripe Stuff” by the media, watching these great older actors go through their training, and deal with their much younger counterparts and the NASA brass, is a joy. I also want to shout out William Devane as the NASA flight director for the mission. He has a couple of really strong scenes.

The legendary cast of this film can’t help but give a seasoned moviegoer like me a warm sense of nostalgia based on their amazing body of work. I remember introducing KELLY’S HEROES to my son when he was a boy. He watched my DVD over and over again. Seeing Eastwood and Sutherland together here brought those memories back. One of my very favorite revenge films is ROLLING THUNDER with William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones. Seeing them together here helps me remember just how great they are in that badass classic. Heck, Garner’s character name of “Tank” Sullivan takes me back to one of the very first movies our family rented when we got our VCR in the mid-80’s! Do y’all remember Garner’s film TANK from 1984? I certainly do!

I will admit that once the crew takes off and begins the actual mission, which comprises about the last 45 minutes of the film, the entertainment level goes down a couple of notches for me. The technical aspects of completing the mission are not as interesting to me as the character interplay in the earlier portions of the film. With that said, there are still some exciting moments to be had, including the nailbiter of a landing at the end.

I enjoyed revisiting SPACE COWBOYS after quite a few years. This movie is ultimately a crowd pleaser, and for me, it does its job well. Enjoy the trailer below:

The Eric Roberts Collection: To Heal A Nation (dir by Michael Pressman)

Posted on May 26, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 1988’s To Heal A Nation, Eric Roberts stars as Jan Scruggs.

When we first meet Scruggs, the year is 1971 and he’s taking his seat on a commercial airliner. When the blonde woman sitting beside him starts to flirt with him, Scruggs mentions that he’s happy because he’s finished up his tour of duty in Vietnam. Upon hearing that Scruggs is a Vietnam vet, the woman immediately requests to be moved to a different seat.

Eight years later, things haven’t gotten much better. Scruggs works for the Department of Labor in Washington D.C. He’s married to Becky (Glynnis O’Connor) but he’s struggling to deal with the past. He drinks too much. He has trouble sleeping. He doesn’t feel like he can open up about the things that he saw in Vietnam because nobody wants to talk about it. He was one of the thousands of people who served in Vietnam who now feel as if they’ve been abandoned by their country. However, after attending a showing of The Deer Hunter, Scruggs has a vision of a monument that that features the name of every American who was killed in the Vietnam Conflict.

Scruggs devotes the next several years of his life to getting the monument built, appealing to both the government and private citizens for funding. At first, everyone treats Scruggs and his efforts like a joke. Even some fellow veterans feel that Scruggs is pushing too hard and that he’s just going to end up embarrassing himself. But Scruggs refuses to give up and finally, with the support of a senator (Laurence Luckinbill) and a Texas millionaire named H. Ross Perot (Conrad Bachmann), Scruggs is able to make his dream a reality.

Based on the true story of the struggle to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., To Heal A Nation features a young Eric Roberts giving a nervy but likable performance as Jan Scruggs, a man who becomes so obsessed with building a monument to those who lost their lives in Vietnam that he occasionally seems like he’s close to going over the edge himself. It’s a good film for Memorial Day and one that still feels relevant today. The way that Scruggs was treated after returning from Vietnam is the way a lot of our veterans were treated and continue to be treated after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. We love our soldiers when they fight in popular wars that result in a definite victory. When they serve in an unpopular war, they’re often deserted by people who don’t want to be reminded of recent history. One can certainly see that in the attempts by the national media to gloss over what happened during our final days in Afghanistan. This film is a reminder that no one should be forgotten.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us for Final Voyage!

Posted on May 26, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in hosting a few weekly live tweets on twitter and occasion ally Mastodon. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of Mastodon’s #MondayActionMovie ! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We snark our way through it.

Tonight, for #MondayActionMovie, the film will be 1999’s Final Voyage!

It should make for a night of fun viewing and I invite all of you to join in. If you want to join the live tweets, just hop onto Mastodon, pull up Final Voyage on YouTube, start the movie at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!

Enjoy!