Devouring The Latest Festive Features: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the season to lounge on the sofa and devour a packet of mince pies in front of a terrific flick, a bad movie, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

This year, a selection of new Christmas films aims to become part of our holiday traditions—potentially even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

So, in a vital public service to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the Christmas spirit, I marathoned as many recent Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, hopefully, on a high. This film is the only 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The popular band find themselves stuck in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who breaks into song to announce they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”

The banter between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while fans will undoubtedly notice lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not an all-time classic, but is superb for fans and a positive start to the day.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who will have to sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a Hollywood star tricked into a traditional British stage show.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.

His pantomime cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their response. Except if you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming storylines, and the supporting actors is excellent, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at another season, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer shows up at the outset of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who collects Mr Sood, the modern take 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 the director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story unfolds as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is haunted by the ghosts 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 unfortunately he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s acting is lifeless—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

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

But after he receives an large festive windfall at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) talks him into splurging the cash on a holiday to Lapland.

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

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

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 main point—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. On the way, she meets a man in a literary haven who promises to show her a festive Paris.

A critic recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the obligatory cozy feelings.

The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is very good too.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

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 (played by James Buckley) to tell him the truth.

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

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a bickering American family who gather for the holidays—including other 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 practice it’s really a mash-up of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last comes into her own.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but happily here’s a new entry in the packed genre of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.

It’s a story as familiar as can be: An American woman travels to a far-off wintery locale and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher