diff --git a/oxdata/api/views.py b/oxdata/api/views.py
index 0ce7bdf..16deb7b 100644
--- a/oxdata/api/views.py
+++ b/oxdata/api/views.py
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@ def api(request):
                                                        'text': 'use POST'}})
         response['Access-Control-Allow-Origin'] = '*'
         return response
-    if not 'action' in request.POST:
+    if request.META['REQUEST_METHOD'] != "POST" or (
+        not 'action' in request.POST and request.META.get('CONTENT_TYPE') != 'application/json'
+    ):
         methods = actions.keys()
         api = []
         for f in sorted(methods):
@@ -31,24 +33,28 @@ def api(request):
         context = RequestContext(request, {'api': api,
                                            'sitename': settings.SITENAME})
         return render_to_response('api.html', context)
-    function = request.POST['action']
-    #FIXME: possible to do this in f
-    #data = json.loads(request.POST['data'])
+    if request.META.get('CONTENT_TYPE') == 'application/json':
+        r = json.loads(request.body)
+        action = r['action']
+        data = r.get('data', {})
+    else:
+        action = request.POST['action']
+        data = json.loads(request.POST.get('data', '{}'))
 
-    f = actions.get(function)
+    f = actions.get(action)
     if f:
-        response = f(request)
+        response = f(request, data)
     else:
         response = render_to_json_response(json_response(status=400,
-                                text='Unknown function %s' % function))
+                                text='Unknown action %s' % action))
     response['Access-Control-Allow-Origin'] = '*'
     return response
 
-def init(request):
+def init(request, data):
     return render_to_json_response(json_response())
 actions.register(init)
 
-def error(request):
+def error(request, data):
     '''
      this action is used to test api error codes, it should return a 503 error
     '''
diff --git a/oxdata/lookup/views.py b/oxdata/lookup/views.py
index 55798a7..6b3b23e 100644
--- a/oxdata/lookup/views.py
+++ b/oxdata/lookup/views.py
@@ -62,10 +62,9 @@ def ids(request):
             json = movie.json(prefix)
     return render_to_json_response(json)
 
-def get(request):
+def get(request, data):
     prefix = request.build_absolute_uri('/')
     response = json_response()
-    data = json.loads(request.POST['data'])
     movie_id = None
     movieId = None
     if 'id' in data:
diff --git a/oxdata/movie/views.py b/oxdata/movie/views.py
index a461783..b0740d9 100644
--- a/oxdata/movie/views.py
+++ b/oxdata/movie/views.py
@@ -6,13 +6,11 @@ import re
 
 from ox.django.shortcuts import render_to_json_response, json_response
 import ox.web.imdb
-from ox.utils import json
 
 from api.actions import actions
 import models
 
-def getId(request):
-    data = json.loads(request.POST['data'])
+def getId(request, data):
     response = json_response()
     movie = models.find(data)
     if movie:
@@ -22,16 +20,14 @@ def getId(request):
     return render_to_json_response(response)
 actions.register(getId)
 
-def getIds(request):
-    data = json.loads(request.POST['data'])
+def getIds(request, data):
     response = json_response()
     response['data']['items'] = models.Match.find(data)
     return render_to_json_response(response)
 actions.register(getIds)
 
-def getData(request):
+def getData(request, data):
     response = json_response()
-    data = json.loads(request.POST['data'])
     id = data['id']
     if len(id) == 7:
         i, created = models.Imdb.objects.get_or_create(imdb=id)
@@ -45,8 +41,8 @@ def getData(request):
     return render_to_json_response(response)
 actions.register(getData)
 
-def parsePath(request):
-    path = json.loads(request.POST['data'])['path']
+def parsePath(request, data):
+    path = data['path']
     response = json_response(ox.parse_movie_path(path))
     return render_to_json_response(response)
 actions.register(parsePath)