Justin Amash Digs Captain America Movie, Slags NSA Surveillance

Via Breitbart comes a movie review of  Captain America: The Winter Soldier by Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.):

"I like Captain America and actually the most recent movie was fantastic," Amash said during a WOOD Radio interview on the The Justin Barclay Show in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Amash said that the movie directed a strong warning of the dangers government surveillance, suggesting that his Republican primary opponent would have sided with the bad guys in the film.

"It really was right up my alley in terms of the message. It was directed at people like my opponent, frankly, who think you need to monitor every single American in the country, that the Fourth Amendment doesn't matter - it was directed at those people."

Amash is in a primary battle for his congressional seat, facing Republican businessman Brian Ellis. Ellis has campaigned against Amash's principled stance on surveillance issues, particularly his fight to reform the National Security Agency.

Read the whole thing here.

I'm with Amash regarding both NSA surveillance and the new Captain America flick (Reason.com movie critic Kurt Loder (who preferred the first Captain America flick). As noted by both Loder and Reason's Peter Suderman (who reviews movies for the Washington Times), Winter Soldier is a definite throwback to 1970s-era paranoid thrillers. As with the recent Batman movies by Christoper Nolan, it's really a meditation on post-9/11 issues related to security, privacy, and justice. Which makes it especially cool that it's kicking ass at the box office, having pulled in about $170 million so far.

Reason TV interviewed Justin Amash in 2013. Watch below. Read a transcript here.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Amash said that the movie directed a strong warning of the dangers government surveillance...

SPOILER ALERT. He just lost my vote.

[cavalier973]

Dude, why don't you hide those behind spoiler tags, or something? I had my DVR all set up and everything...

[BiMonSciFiCon]

You've got your DVR set up for the Cap 2 TV debut in 2015? That's some good planning.

[CampingInYourPark]

Amash should call into Putin's Q&A show and ask Putin's opinion of Captain America

[invisible furry hand]

Nwerdy language question: Do Americans say "slag [something]"? The rest of us say "slag [something] off]. Or is this heading just a flawed attempt at using a British/Australian colloquialism?

[Apatheist ?_??]

No. Unfortunately, because slag is an awesome word.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I don't think I've ever used "slag" outside of "slag heap," metal refining, or this post.

[Emmerson Biggins]

ditto. talked about it in blacksmithing class I think. that's it.

Do Brit's and Aussies know what we mean when we talk about shagging flies?

[invisible furry hand]

I'm assuming it's something to do with fishing, and not a really ludicrous attempt at bestiality

[Night Elf Mohawk]

No, not fishing.

[invisible furry hand]

oh, baseball. The wonders of Google. No more daft a sporting term than silly mid-off is, I suppose

[Night Elf Mohawk]

If you think "shagging flies" is daft, think about "no pepper on grass."

[invisible furry hand]

it's a very useful word. As a verb, it means to speak abusively about something. As a noun, it's like skank. See, for example, the great British comic creations The Fat Slags

[pan fried wylie]

Google search auto-complete for Brian Ellis suggests that he might fuck sheep.

[OldMexican]

Since Tony is not here, it means he agrees with everything that is being said here.

[cavalier973]

It is my understanding that if you really want to invoke it, you have to mention "same-sex marriage", and how people can be opposed to the idea without being a bigot.

[Loki]

Or say something about global warming not being real. That usually summons the Derp pretty quickly.

[Dweebston]

Anyone else find Avengers material sans Stark uniformly boring? I sat through twenty minutes of the first Cap'n America, and even with a few g&ts; in me I couldn't get invested.

[Anonymous Coward]

Capt. America is an cherished part of my childhood, so I enjoyed it. I haven't seen the new one, but the way it's been described makes it sound pretty damn critical of the Panopticon/Total Surveillance State.

[Cytotoxic]

The first CA is totally awful and boring. The new CA is totally awesome and kick-ass.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

I liked the first one better on my second viewing. The first time around I didn't like it at all. Might be my least favorite of the new Marvel films.

[Rasilio]

Um, no.

To this point at least every Marvel movie (as in the ones actually put out by Marvel, not just based on Marvel characters) has been at worst decent. The first Captain America was probably the weakest of the bunch followed by the first Thor movie but even they were above average action flicks.

In the new Captain America, I would go so far as to say that Chris Evans equals Downey's Stark for how well the character is played. He manages to believably play the moral strength of the character without coming off as a pendantic dork with a stick up his ass

[BiMonSciFiCon]

I would agree. I thought his portrayal of CA was pretty damn good. I didn't think he was all that great in CA1 or the Avengers, he was just sorta there and did a good job. He was very good in the new one. (On your left!)

[BiMonSciFiCon]

In order:

Avengers
CA 2
(relatively large gap)
Iron Man 3
Iron Man
Thor
Thor 2
CA1
Iron Man 2

[Cytotoxic]

-IM3 and IM2 above IM1 and anything else.

WHAT. The only thing worse than IM2 was IM3. IM1 was so good but god damn did its sequels suck. IM3 RUINED a great villain and Ten Rings resurrection for its awful plot. RAGE

[BiMonSciFiCon]

I'll admit I enjoyed IM3 more than most, as I am not really familiar with all story lines in the comics. I thought it was the funniest MCU movie yet, and while there were plenty of holes, I enjoyed it, which is pretty much all I care about when it comes to these movies.

There's a Marvel one shot on the Thor 2 DVD that hints at the actual you-know-what, so maybe that'll be coming in IM4 if there is one.

[Not a Libertarian]

A question that might as well be answered in this thread:

For someone who has a read on Michigan politics, is Rep. Amash favored to win the primary? Would he be favored in the general election?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

My understanding is that Amash's opponent will play the part of the tied up goat in the primary, despite the rent-seekers' support of Ellis. I also believe he'd the the favorite in the general.

[Cytotoxic]

the part of the tied up goat

Not to be dense but I'm not sure what this means. It doesn't sound good for Ellis.

If Rand can't win the GOP nomination for various reasons, Amash should totally jump. Even if Rand does. His ethnicity makes him racist and bigotry-proof.

[Christophe]

Jurassic Park reference?

[Warty]

It was a fun movie, but I'm still pissed that they shut down one of the main highways through town for two weeks to film the fucking thing. That was a gigantic pain in the ass.