Devouring The Latest Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

It is the season to lounge on the couch and devour a packet of holiday pastries in front of a terrific flick, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.

As always, a crop of latest seasonal stories hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even earning a place alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Therefore, in a helpful attempt to separate the winners from the losers, and to find the festive feeling, I marathoned as many recent Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, optimistically, on a high. This is the only 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The popular band are trapped in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who breaks into song to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”

The back-and-forth between the arguing trio is entertaining even for the non-fan, while fans will no doubt pick up on lots of references as they endeavor 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 excellent for devotees and a positive start to the day.

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

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a celebrity cast a traditional British stage show.

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and older lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.

His pantomime co-stars inform him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. It's easy to predict their response. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

Danny Dyer appears at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Could this be a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who picks up Mr Sood, the modern take 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 director of Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least unique from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There's just enough time for a network's holiday special—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) convinces him spending the sum on a family trip to Lapland.

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

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. During her travels, she encounters a fellow in a bookshop who promises to show her a festive Paris.

A commentator recently stated 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 dash of elegance and gives the required heartwarming sensation.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The truth is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s gentle but charming, and perfect viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a quarrelling American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee 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 declaring: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally finds her strength.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new entry in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—holiday fare.

It’s a tale as old as time: An American woman goes on a quest to a far-off wintery locale and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher