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

‘Tis the time of year to relax on the sofa and demolish a packet of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.

This year, a selection of fresh holiday movies aims to become part of our festive viewing—maybe even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to get into the festive feeling, I binged as many new Christmas films as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

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

The popular band are stranded in the UK after concluding their world tour and must make it back 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 sibling bond.”

The repartee between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the casual viewer, while devotees will no doubt catch lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using all transportation available.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

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

Next: A Star in Panto

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland appears as a Hollywood star tricked into a pantomime.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose manager has deceived him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. One can imagine their response. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some hilarious moments, some heartwarming storylines, and the rest of the cast is brilliant, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit tacky at a different time, but is a great entertainment 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 second consecutive movie. Is this a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who collects Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least unique from all the others, but sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a significant issue when he’s so the focal point.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There’s time for a network's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money on a holiday to Lapland.

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

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the backdrop—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 assigned to a French chateau to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. En route, she encounters a man in a literary haven who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

An expert recently declared this is the top new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a holiday love story with a dash of elegance and gives the required cozy feelings.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, despite the attempts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The answer is to be discovered, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the expert help of a panel of well-known figures.

It’s low-key but sweet, and ideal viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a bickering American family who come back together for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer starts by mentioning Christmas classics like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in reality it’s really a mash-up of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last finds her strength.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

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

It’s a tale as old as time: An American woman travels to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher