Binge-Watching This Year's Festive Features: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the time of year to lounge on the couch and demolish a box of mince pies in front of a terrific flick, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

This year, a crop of latest seasonal stories hopes to be part of our festive viewing—potentially even joining the ranks alongside beloved favorites 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 Christmas spirit, I marathoned as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

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

The popular band find themselves stranded in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are hindered by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The back-and-forth between the arguing trio is entertaining even for the uninitiated, while followers will no doubt notice lots of in-jokes as they try 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 great for fans and a positive start to the day.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who must sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a Hollywood star cast a pantomime.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s performing in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin co-stars inform him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their retort. Except if you’re not acquainted with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

A familiar face appears at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur 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 familiar story progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least distinct from all the others, but sadly he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

Before lunch for a network's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he receives 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 problem—he finds out there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to reimburse the remainder.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the background—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 sent to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. During her travels, she encounters a man in a literary haven who promises to show her a festive Paris.

A critic recently declared this is the finest new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

The secret is somewhere, and Chris sets out to find it with the assistance of a group of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s understated but endearing, and ideal viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a dysfunctional American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress 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 stating: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new entry in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.

It’s a story as familiar as can be: An American woman travels to a picturesque cold country and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher