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

‘Tis the time of year to lounge on the sofa and devour a packet of holiday pastries in front of a terrific flick, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

Once again, a crop of latest holiday movies aims to become part of our festive viewing—perhaps even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to find the holiday mood, I watched as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, hopefully, on a positive note. This is the sole 2025 title on a popular review site's list of the best 100 festive features of all time.

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

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is entertaining even for the uninitiated, while followers will undoubtedly catch lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not legendary, but is superb 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.

Next: A Star in Panto

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a movie actor roped into a "panto".

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s performing in high-class London stage.

His pantomime fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. One can imagine their retort. Unless you’re ignorant of traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some great jokes, some touching sub-plots, 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 lot of fun at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

An actor pops up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Might this become a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who picks up Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is confronted by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a major flaw when he’s so the focal point.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There’s time for a major broadcaster's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

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

There’s just one problem—he learns there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to return the remainder.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

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

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a country estate to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. En route, she meets a man in a literary haven who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A commentator recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a hint of sophistication and gives the required cozy feelings.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, despite the attempts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The secret is somewhere, and Chris sets out to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known figures.

It’s understated but charming, and perfect viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a bickering American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee 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 concept, but in practice it’s really a combination of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new entry in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as familiar as can be: 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