Marathon Viewing This Year's Christmas Films: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

‘Tis the time of year to slob out on the sofa and devour a box of festive treats in front of a terrific flick, a bad movie, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

As always, a batch of fresh holiday movies aims to become part of our holiday traditions—maybe even joining the ranks alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the festive feeling, I watched as many new festive movies as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Beginning, hopefully, on a high. This is the sole 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time.

The popular band find themselves trapped in the UK after concluding their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their efforts are thwarted 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 non-fan, while followers will no doubt pick up on lots of easter eggs as they attempt to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

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

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor roped into a traditional British stage show.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing action hero Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s appearing in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin co-stars inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he protests. One can imagine their response. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some very funny lines, some touching sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is excellent, too.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

Danny Dyer shows up at the outset of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Might this become a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up 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 haunted by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least distinct from all the others, but sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s acting is wooden—a problem when he’s so central to everything.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

Before lunch for a network's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on 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 family trip to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—he finds out there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to return the difference.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

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

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she meets a guy in a bookshop who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A commentator recently stated this is the top new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a Christmas romance with a hint of sophistication and gives the required warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

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

The answer is out there, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the assistance 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 matriarch of a dysfunctional American family who reunite for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer starts by mentioning classic festive films 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 what this is, but in reality it’s really a combination of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally comes into her own.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new addition in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

It’s a story as old as time: An American woman goes on a quest to a picturesque cold country and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher