Marathon Viewing The Latest Festive Features: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

‘Tis the season to slob out on the sofa and consume a tin of festive treats in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

Once again, a batch of latest Christmas films hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even earning a place alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the Christmas spirit, I binged as many recent holiday releases as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, ideally, on a good foot. This is the sole 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band are stuck in the UK after concluding their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “find their familial spark.”

The repartee between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the casual viewer, while followers will undoubtedly catch lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is excellent for devotees and a good start to the day.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who are obliged to sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland stars as a movie actor tricked into a traditional British stage show.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s performing in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. It's easy to predict their retort. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some very funny lines, some heartwarming sub-plots, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit tacky at a different time, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

An actor pops up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the next movie straight. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up Mr Sood, the modern take 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is haunted by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - 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 is awarded an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money on a vacation to Lapland.

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

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

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

Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a country estate to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she runs into a fellow in a literary haven who promises to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A commentator recently declared this is the finest new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the required heartwarming sensation.

The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is particularly strong too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, despite the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

The answer is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the assistance of a team of well-known figures.

It’s low-key but charming, and perfect viewing while expecting 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 fellow 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 stating: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in execution it’s really a mash-up of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s waned in quality, but happily here’s a new entry in the packed genre of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and strangely compelling—holiday fare.

It’s a story as well-worn: An American woman journeys to a picturesque cold country and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher