Binge-Watching The Latest Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

It is the season to lounge on the sofa and consume a box of festive treats in front of a good movie, a bad movie, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

Once again, a crop of new Christmas films strives to join part of our holiday traditions—potentially even finding a spot alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a noble effort to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to get into the holiday mood, I watched as many new festive movies as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, ideally, on a good foot. This film is the exclusive 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the best 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band find themselves stranded in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”

The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while fans will certainly notice lots of easter eggs as they endeavor to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is great for fans and a positive start to the day.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who will have to sit through it.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland appears as a Hollywood star cast a "panto".

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose representative has deceived him into thinking he’s appearing in high-class London stage.

His Aladdin cast-mates let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. One can imagine their response. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some very funny lines, some touching sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit tacky at any other time of year, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

A familiar face appears at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who picks up Mr Sood, the modern take on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Mr Sood is played by an actor from Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is visited by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but sadly he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There's just enough time for a major broadcaster's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he gets an large festive windfall at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) talks him into splurging the cash on a vacation to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—he learns there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to pay back the difference.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she meets a fellow in a bookshop who offers to show her a festive Paris.

An expert recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.

The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is particularly strong too.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, despite the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the truth.

The secret is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s gentle but charming, and ideal viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a dysfunctional American family who gather for the holidays—including other acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer begins by referencing holiday staples like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually takes center stage.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new addition in the packed genre of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.

It’s a story as familiar as can be: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher