Binge-Watching This Year's Festive Features: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

‘Tis the season to lounge on the sofa and devour a packet of festive treats in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

This year, a selection of latest Christmas films hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even finding a spot alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Therefore, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to get into the Christmas spirit, I watched as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, ideally, on a positive note. This is the only 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The Jonas Brothers find themselves stranded in the UK after wrapping up their global concert series and must return for Christmas. Their efforts are hampered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who sings to announce they won’t get home until they “rediscover their sibling bond.”

The repartee between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the uninitiated, while devotees will certainly notice lots of references as they endeavor to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

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

8.45am - Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland stars as a movie actor roped into a "panto".

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

His pantomime co-stars let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. You can guess their retort. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming side stories, and the ensemble is excellent, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at a different time, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer pops up at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the next movie straight. Might this become a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who collects 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 the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops as the stingy Mr Sood is confronted by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least different from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There's just enough time for a major broadcaster's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he gets an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money on a holiday to Lapland.

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

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the background—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a French chateau to do a deal for a champagne business. During her travels, she meets a man in a bookshop who vows to show her a festive Paris.

An expert recently claimed this is the top new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a touch of class and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is notable too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, in spite of the efforts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The truth is out there, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the guidance of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s gentle but endearing, and ideal viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

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

Pfeiffer starts by mentioning holiday staples like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “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 mash-up of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—holiday fare.

It’s a tale as old as time: An American woman goes on a quest to a far-off wintery locale and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher