Binge-Watching This Year's Festive Features: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the season to lounge on the couch and consume a tin of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

This year, a crop of fresh holiday movies aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even finding a spot alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a vital public service to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to find the holiday mood, I marathoned as many new festive movies as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, optimistically, on a positive note. This film is the exclusive 2025 movie on a popular review site's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The musical trio end up stuck in the UK after concluding their international trek and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.”

The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while devotees will undoubtedly notice lots of references as they attempt to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not an all-time classic, but is great for fans and a good start to the day.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who must sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity roped into a pantomime.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and ageing action hero Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s starring in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their reply. Unless you’re ignorant of traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some great jokes, some touching sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit naff at any other time of year, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

A familiar face shows up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the next movie straight. Might this become a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who collects Mr Sood, the newest interpretation on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Mr Sood is played by a star of Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least unique from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a problem when he’s so the main character.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

Before lunch for a channel's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he gets an large festive windfall at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him splurging the cash on a holiday to Lapland.

There’s just one problem—he finds out there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to return the excess.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

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

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she runs into a guy in a literary haven who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

An expert recently declared this is the finest new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a Christmas romance with a hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory heartwarming sensation.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, regardless of the persuasion of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the truth.

The secret is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s understated but charming, and good viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

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

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping Christmas classics like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before declaring: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in reality it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally finds her strength.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—holiday fare.

It’s a story as familiar as can be: An American woman travels to a far-off wintery locale and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher