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

‘Tis the season to lounge on the couch and demolish a packet of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

Once again, a selection of latest Christmas films hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—potentially even earning a place alongside beloved favorites 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 fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Starting, ideally, on a positive note. This film is the only 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The musical trio end up stuck 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 sings to declare they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.”

The repartee between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the non-fan, while followers will no doubt catch lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who will have to sit through it.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor roped into a pantomime.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and older star Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose representative has deceived him into thinking he’s starring in renowned British drama.

His pantomime cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their retort. Unless you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases.

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

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit naff at a different time, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

A familiar face shows up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second consecutive movie. Is this a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who encounters 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 classic narrative progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is visited 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 different from all the others, but sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a problem when he’s so central to everything.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There’s time for a major broadcaster's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him spending the sum on a family trip 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 figure out how to pay back the difference.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the setting—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to do a deal for a champagne business. On the way, she runs into a fellow in a literary haven who vows to show her Christmas in Paris.

An expert recently claimed this is the best new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a touch of class and gives the obligatory heartwarming sensation.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, despite the attempts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

The truth is somewhere, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the expert help of a group of well-known figures.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a quarrelling American family who gather 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 true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in practice it’s really a combination of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually takes center stage.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new entry in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher