 | | |
| | Action: The Complete Series | | | Music Style : | | General | | Record Label : | | Sony Pictures | | Release Date : | | 2006-02-21 | | Store Price : | | $24.96 | | Artistopia's Price: $15.99 | | Usually ships in 1 to 2 days | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
|
 "We're not going to get anything out of a writer who's rectally hemorrhaging!"
Submitted on: 2009-09-13 |
|
One might make a serious drama about the movie-making business, but a nasty satire is so much more fun. The material is virtually self-satirizing, anyway. (Many of the incidents are supposedly true, related to the writers by Joel Silver.) The series' running joke (or underlying conceit, if you want to get literary about it), is that the only decent, honest, self-aware character is Wendy -- a prostitute. Billy Wilder -- who co-wrote and directed "Sunset Blvd.", another black comedy about the movie business -- would have loved "Action".
It's unfortunate the series was cancelled, as we don't see whether "Beverly Hills Gun Club" is ever completed. It presumably would have been, as the series' producer hoped to actually film the movie!
The interview with the producer (Chris Thompson) is strange. He almost always looks down and refuses to face the interviewer, confessing that "Action" appeared on Fox, rather than HBO, because Fox offered more money. This is probably true, but it's hard to tell whether his other self-deprecating remarks are.
Amazon's NC-17 rating is absurd. (The package is labelled "No Rating".) This is a TV-MA (R) show. However, the disclaimer at the beginning that "Portions of 'ACTION' may be inappropriate for younger viewers" is wrong --/everything/ in "Action" is inappropriate for younger viewers.
This is one of those programs that's "too good for television". Unreservedly recommended.
PS: Joss Whedon did a movie ("Serenity") based on a failed series ("Firefly"). So why /shouldn't/ we eventually see a film of "Beverly Hills Gun Club"? |
|
|
|
 Behind the scenes
Submitted on: 2009-08-19 |
|
| Outlandish and fun. The first episodes, which appeared on Fox, are wonderful.. so that's how TV production REALLY works?! It holds up after a decade, too! Reserve a table at The Ivy. |
|
|
|
If you like Entourage, you'll love Action
Submitted on: 2009-07-23 |
|
| I was going through all of my old VHS tapes and almost "bleeped" myself when I found my old "Action" tape. I forgot about the series a long time ago because my VHS tapes have been collecting dust for years. I've been a fan of "Entourage" since its inception and wondered all these years why Jeremy Piven's Ari Gold reminded me so much of an old friend of mine even though I never had a friend like him. It was because Jay Mohr's Peter Dragon set the standard for the "bleep" Hollywood big wig who everyone knew by name and reputation, but whose face was always hidden. Given more episodes and a cable network that could have allowed the writers more freedom, "Entourage" could have served as the perfect little brother to "Action" if it had been on for five or six seasons as it should have. Unfortunately it was just too sharp, brash and real for pg-13 audiences back in 1999 and I guess not enough people wanted their hollywood bubble to be burst. Instead we can thank Hugh Grant, Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise, Winona Ryder, Britney and anyone else that showed us that the big stars, no matter how big, are just as human and messed up as the rest of us. Even though Buddy Hackett is no longer with us, the main stars are, and if anyone has any sense, they'll bring them back for the "Action" feature movie and give all the remaining fans a little closure to the best inside hollywood parody that never was. |
|
|
|
Too "inside Hollywood" for most of America
Submitted on: 2008-11-12 |
|
| This was a damn funny, dark at times, series. I suspect it was too specific to the entertainment industry to be a nationwide hit. If you want some insight on the workings of Hollywood this, and the film "Swimming with Sharks" are two great choices. |
|
|
|
Now I want to see "Beverly Hills Gun Club"
Submitted on: 2008-08-08 |
|
"Action" is yet another one of those great TV series that you've never heard of because it got cancelled almost as soon as it began. The 13 episodes of this series tell the continuing story of Hollywood movie producer Peter Dragon (Jay Mohr) and his attempts to make the seemingly doomed action film "Beverly Hills Gun Club" (the description of which sounds so incredibly bad and trashy that if it really existed I would be the first in line at the cinema to see it) by "selling his soul to the devil one piece at a time".
"Action" is an incredibly funny series. It skewers all of the top names in Hollywood (at the time it was made - 1999), as well as the film industry in general, and doesn't hold back in doing so. Each episode targets a different aspect of showbiz - from actors, to directors, to investors, to writers. No one is spared. The show is completely offensive and is up to its eyeballs in coarse language and sex and drug references, not to mention jokes that are just in plain bad taste - I don't mean gross-out humour, I mean jokes that make you stop and think "I can't believe they just said that", right before bursting out laughing.
The reason why I didn't give this show five stars is because, even though I thoroughly enjoyed this series, the show did start to run out of steam towards the end. The episodes on disc two just aren't as funny as the episodes on disc one, and Illeana Douglas, as child star turned prostitute turned film executive, Wendy Ward (my favourite character in the series, played by one of my favourite actresses) "vanishes" from several episodes on the second disc. Nevertheless, by the time I got to disc two, I was so interested in finding out what the next disaster to befall Peter Dragon would be, that the story kept me going in place of the jokes.
|
|
|
|
