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

It is the season to slob out on the couch and devour a tin of festive treats in front of a good movie, a bad movie, or one that’s awesomely awful.

Once again, a selection of new seasonal stories strives to join part of our seasonal watchlist—potentially even earning a place alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

So, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the holiday mood, I marathoned as many new festive movies as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, ideally, on a positive note. This release is the only 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band end up stranded in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to declare they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”

The repartee between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while fans will no doubt notice lots of in-jokes as they attempt 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 superb for devotees and a positive start to the day.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who are obliged to sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity roped into a traditional British stage show.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose manager has deceived him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he protests. One can imagine their reply. Except if you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some hilarious moments, some heartwarming storylines, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit cheesy at any other time of year, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor shows up at the start of this film, too, insulting someone for the second film in a row. Is this a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale develops as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted by the ghosts of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least distinct from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is lifeless—a problem when he’s so central to everything.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

Before lunch for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) persuades him splurging the cash on a family trip to Lapland.

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

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its main point—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she runs into a guy in a book store who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

An expert recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a Christmas romance with a touch of class and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, regardless of the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

The truth is to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a panel of well-known figures.

It’s understated but sweet, and good viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a quarrelling American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow 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 what this is, but in reality it’s really a combination of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually takes center stage.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new offering in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—holiday fare.

It’s a narrative as old as time: An American woman goes on a quest to a distant snowy land and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher