Details from IMDB:
- TV Special
- 2024
- 59m
IMDb RATING
A documentary chronicling the meteoric rise of Wham!’s “Last Christmas”. Features new interviews with Andrew Ridgeley and archival footage of George Michael.
Initial Thoughts:
This is technically a TV special and not a movie but I enjoyed it so I’m going to do a review. “Last Christmas” is one of my favorite Xmas songs and since I’m at least half Grinch, one of the few things that can get even a little in the spirit. I’m also old enough that I’ve loved this song since I was a kid, over 40 years now and of course I not only like Wham! I quite enjoyed the other documentary Netflix released on them in July, so there was never any doubt I would watch this.
Main Points:
When I finished watching the Wham! documentary earlier this year I said to my wife I wanted one that showed more current day, talked about the loss of George Michael and focused more on “Last Christmas” and I got exactly what I wanted! It was a small early Xmas gift, so Saturday night we watched this after I had just discovered it earlier that day.
I loved this documentary, if you were ever a fan of 80s music, and this song in particular, this is a much watch. This one shows how much all of his friends, Andrew Ridgeley in particular, loved George and miss him. He was an amazing singer and I never realized how much he not only loved Xmas but also how much it meant for him to spend time with his friends over the holidays. George Michael had always this song to go to number 1 in the UK and the reason it didn’t is because the same year “Do they know it’s Christmas?” was released by Band Aid, a song George sang on. With a lot of devotion and work by fans of the song all over the world they finally did it and in December of 2023 the song made it to number 1 in the UK! I thought this was a great thing to include in the documentary, that and they showed everyone, minus George of course, return to where the video was filmed in Switzerland and recreate scenes from it.
Final Thoughts:
There is some overlap with the first documentary, really how could there not be? I would have liked to see interviews with George Michael’s family but perhaps they didn’t want it or felt it wouldn’t be appropriate. This movie will give you the feels if you loved the song, Wham! and George Michael, I’ll admit I teared up a few times. I give this a solid 8 out of 10 and would highly reccomend it. “Last Christmas” shows how I feel about Xmas, I enjoy it but there is always some melancholy for me, as there is for a lot of people, that said I highly reccomend you watch this over the holiday season, you’ll be glad you did. Oh I can also say for a change kids are fine for this! Though I would say ages 13+ just because it does talk about drinking and being intoxicated.