#MarcoVillalobos

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Last Thing He Wanted (2020)

You can tell director Dee Rees and co-writer Marco Villalobos love The Last Thing He Wanted. They crammed every detail from the novel into their screenplay without hesitation, resulting in a plot only they understand.

Having seen first-hand the horrors committed by the Contras in Nicaragua, journalist Elena McMahon is outraged when she's assigned to cover the 1984 U.S. Presidential election instead. When her estranged father (Willem Dafoe) becomes hospitalized and tells her of an upcoming arms deal he has arranged in Central America, she decides to take his place to learn more. Who's letting these weapons “disappear”. Why?

It sounds like a mistake for a reporter to suddenly become an arms dealer but in Elena’s defence, she proves herself reasonably capable when things go sour. Her motivation is believable. Still a mistake, but at least the rationale is there.

Things go bad. Now, the people her father was dealing with, the Contras, and several government bodies all want Elena. Who can she trust? Either you figure out what this person’s role is quite easily (like Edi Gathegi’s “Jones”) or you think you know but you’re never quite sure, like Ben Affleck’s character. You’re expected to figure things out for yourself but aren't provided the pieces to do this. Some characters are introduced and then disappear. Are they just hiding in the shadows? No, their part in the story is over. This one guy… you know him because he was in the background of that one scene. Must mean he’s important, right? Not at all. So why was he even there?

That’s a question you’ll often be asking yourself. You can tell pages of a way-too-long script have been tossed to cut this film down to reasonable length. In one scene, two people are talking. In the next, they just finished having sex. What? I never detected even a hint of chemistry between them and when you consider the film’s ending… why include this when those moments could’ve been used to develop the characters in meaningful ways. Critical details are placed far too late into the film. Here's an easy example. We learn Elena is a breast cancer survivor but obviously, Anne Hathaway still has a full chest. The whole movie you're wondering who goofed until we see her pad her bra. Did it have to come so late? I’m unsure if I was barely able to remember who’s who and what’s what because of the writing or because I was too distracted by what I thought was a huge costume department oversight for ninety minutes!

When The Last Thing He Wanted ended, I was tempted to start it over to see if I could make more sense of the story’s overly dramatic and ultimately unnecessary bookends, politics, and characters. A second go wouldn’t make a difference. The picture moves just fast enough and provides just enough thrills for you to keep going but the journey’s not worth the destination. and vice versa. (October 4, 2020)

[thecurvycritic]

Thank you @NALIP_org for organizing voices to speak on #inclusion from such smart, fantabulous Latin creators @zzzepeda @RebeccaMurga @aurog24 @MrDannyFern #MarcoVillalobos #NMS20VIRTUAL #WeAreInclusion #NALIP #DannyFernandez #MarcoVillalobos #RebeccaMurga #auroraguerrero #susanazepeda #thecurvycritic #tcm #gentefied #gentefiednetflix #diaryofafuturepresident #queensugar #cherishtheday #greenleaf #own #director #writer #filmcritic https://www.instagram.com/p/CB4WK0xnoo5/?igshid=cavi6ftiiobi

[garyalvarez]

With screenwriter Marco Villalobos of THE LAST THING HE WANTED after his interview with PERSISTENCE OF SOUND at Sundance 2020! The film—starring Ann Hathaway, Ben Affleck, Willem Dafoe and Rosie Perez—will be streaming on Netflix in February! 🎥✊🏽 #persistenceofsound #sundance2020 #marcovillalobos #thelastthinghewanted #netflix (at Sundance Film Festival) https://www.instagram.com/p/B8AipxMARkMFHkNkuBTEQO1YkrFtw7qVwivuQg0/?igshid=dzftpnzu5kt3