Code of Silence (1985)

 "Just like the cops. Just like the Comachos. Nobody talks. Omerta."

This is, surprisingly, the first time I've ever seen or blogged a film starring Chuck Norris, he of all the jokes about how he;s hard as nails... and also of some extremely dodgy political views: bet he voted for the tiny handed orange fascist. I suppose I was expecting some kind of cheesy B movie... but that's not what I got.

Norris' films, this one very much included, tend to be relatively obscure compared to those of his peers Sly and Arnie. Yet Code of Silence is actually a pretty damn good '80s action film. Yes, Norris plays a hard-as-nails character, but not without nuance. He can certainly act. Andrew Davis gives us a stylishly directed thriller with fights, car chases and set pieces before, showing off the Chicago setting superbly.

Yet the plot, character and themes elevate this a little above that,despite the very '80s incidental music and the silly robot,about which the less said than the better. We have a "war" between the local Mafia family and the local Colombian meth lot, both with their own code of silence. Yet into this mix we also have a mildly corrupt police force who protect one of their own who kills a suspect in cold blood, their own code of silence.

Having Norris play a truly incorruptible cop who refuses to goalong with this, therefore meaning he's on his own and his fellow cops won't back him up, is powerful. The plot is clever, satisfying and generally a cut above what one might expect, while the thrills are very much present. An unexpected gem.

iZombie: Filleted to Rest

"She fired people for existing wrong."

Another superb episode that, as this season is continuously doing with admirable skill, manages to pull off a genuinely impressive whodunit while still having lots of jaw-dropping arc stuff happen against a steadily deteriorating background of human vs zombie tension. And we end with quite the cliffhanger. Halfway through this final season...

The murder/brain of the week, a delightfully rude chef, is a particularly good one, and Liv on chef brain is a real treat. The murder of the week, to be fair, takes up a lot of screen time, and deserves to. It's too easy to forget that iZombie's basic format, still fundamentally there in spite of everything, is a bloody good one. Burgling as a murder alibi is a bloody good one.

And yet...a load of Fillmore Graves troops are killed in a terrorist attack, and after a far bit of intrigue Major gains proof that Justin- who is, let us not forget, a former boyfriend of Liv- is a traitor, shooting his recently former close friend while trying to escape. Ouch. Liv has a massive row with her mum, who we haven't seen for, well, seasons, but it's finally time to start tying up the loose ends.

There's a heartwarming scene where Michelle tells Clive that, no, he probably isn't the father... but she thinks he's a decent man and kind of wishes he was. Aw. Ravi's relationship with Dr Charlie Collier (and her twin sister!) develops a little, which makes me think they are going to share a more blatant sub-plot about a zombie cure.

But that cliffhanger, that this new player who is de-thawing zombies and appears to be Durkins' zombie mirror image is probably Liv's dad... wow.

iZombie: Grumpy Old Liv

"Are you eating that or impregnating it?"

Time to start a new (and slightly longer) season of iZombie, and Liv is estranged from her family who, for obvious reasons, do not and cannot know why she refused to give blood for her gravely injured brother Evan. It's deeply unfair, potentially very upsetting viewing and thus not dwelt upon. We shall have to wait and see if there's a good narrative reason for it happening.

In the meantime, though, Liv is doing what she does, eating brains, having visions and solving crimes. This week's cerebellum-based meal is a bitter, gimpy and vaguely racist old man. The racist side is, again wisely, not dwelt upon. 

Meanwhile, Major is still aimlessly unemployed and Peyton is still AWOL. Liv has a new roommate who is described as being boring because she works for her country's tax authority. Ahem. Still, at least she's made interesting at the end by virtue of being an undercover spy for Max Rager. The killer (spoilers) has a t-shirt emblazoned with "T-shirts are passé" which made my wife and I laugh. He also has his alibi of watching Arsenal vs Chelsea in a pub, and correctly refers to the sport as "football", yet he's an American in America. Wow. We may have buggered up our relations with all our neighbours a few years ago, but it seems the relentless march of British sports continues apace, even into the USA. 

Oh, and Blaine is now a funeral director, using the brains of the deceased to feed his zombie clients. Lovely. But, if he doesn't help Liv find the story behind the tainted utopium, the side effects of the cure may kill him. It seems he isn't quite in control. Even worse, we end with Max Rager blackmailing Major into embarking on a zombie killing spree. It's a superb start to what promises to be another brilliant season.

iZombie: Maternity Liv

"But you should eat something. Possibly. With vegetables, if you so choose."

It had to happen; Liv has eaten the brain of a pregnant woman and is getting all motherly, a mad this is of course played for comic effect. But this helps to lighten a surprisingly dark episode about parental abuse and, in the end, dodgy cover-ups. The central mystery is, as ever, excellent.

Major, meanwhile, is working with a tenacious journalist to find out what happened to those missing kids. And Ravi and Lowell have an excruciating conversation about London football that clearly wasn't written by a Brit.

It's a brilliant conceit that Lowell's apparent standoffishness towards Liv is explained by a gay brain he's eaten, and their relationship is simmering nicely. 

We end with a cover-up, Suzuki suspecting that Liv is a zombie, and Ravi's lab rat becoming a zombie rat...

iZombie: Virtual Reality Bites

"Well, I had to escape the chilly, wet, depressing London weather. So, Seattle, naturally."

That quote only narrowly beat "Nice shag". Anyway...

This week's murderer victim is a right nasty piece of work, an online troll called the "Sim Reaper", and he so deserved his fiendishly clever nut allergy-related death at the hands of the brother of a girl he drove to suicide. It's an entertaining murder mystery, as always, and in the end a rather poignant one. It also involves an online role playing game (I prefer tabletop, preferably with dice, THAC0 and saving throws. I'm old school like that) which enables Ravi and Major to bond a bit.

Meanwhile, Liv starts to date Lowell but it's early days and rather awkward. Blaine (quelle surprise) is behind the kidnappings. And Liv's younger brother is at risk...

By this point I'm well and truly hooked.

iZombie: Pilot

"Why the hot sauce? Is that a zombie thing?"

This series, based on a DC Vertigo miniseries, only has two short seasons on Netflix so far; it should be fairly easy to get up to date with the odd episode while I'm in the middle of my True Blood marathon interspersed with the odd film. After True Blood, incidentally, I will get back to Buffy and Angel. Promise.

I'm loving this so far- the directorial style, the witty dialogue and first person narration, the fact that we get a whodunit story of the week amongst the zombie stuff- but it's all carried by the brilliant Rose McIver as Liv, who unexpectedly finds herself a zombie and is forced to give up her promising medical career to work in a morgue where there are, you know, brains. Fortunately she makes an ally of her boss, Ravi, an eccentric English scientist, and starts working with Clive, a police detective who has no idea what she is or, indeed, that her "psychic" abilities in fact derive from eating the brains of the deceased. Lovely.

It's funny, engaging, promises more zombie lore, has likeable and engaging characters, and seems so far to be a good whodunit. And I hope one day Liv can get over her rather wet fiancé rather than mole all over him. Still, I'm hooked.