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

It is the time of year to relax on the couch and devour a box of mince pies in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.

This year, a selection of latest holiday movies hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even joining the ranks alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

So, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the holiday mood, I marathoned as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, optimistically, on a good foot. This release is the only 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The popular band end up stuck in the UK after concluding their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”

The repartee between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the non-fan, while followers will no doubt pick up on lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using all transportation available.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

It’s not legendary, but is superb for devotees and a positive start to the day.

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor roped into a pantomime.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging star Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has deceived him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. You can guess their reply. Except if you’re ignorant of traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some great jokes, some touching side stories, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit naff at another season, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

An actor pops up at the start 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 singing black cab driver who collects Mr Sood, the latest spin on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Mr Sood is played by The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale progresses as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions 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 sadly he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a problem when he’s so central to everything.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There’s time for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an large festive windfall at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) convinces him spending the sum on a holiday to Lapland.

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

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a country estate to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. On the way, she encounters a fellow in a bookshop who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

An expert recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a holiday love story with a dash of elegance and gives the required heartwarming sensation.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

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

The answer is out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a panel of well-known figures.

It’s low-key but sweet, and ideal viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a bickering 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 classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in reality it’s really a mash-up of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new offering in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as old as time: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher