Marathon Viewing The Latest Holiday Movies: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

‘Tis the season to slob out on the couch and demolish a packet of mince pies in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

This year, a crop of new Christmas films strives to join part of our festive viewing—potentially even joining the ranks 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 embrace the Christmas spirit, I binged as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, optimistically, on a high. This release is the sole 2025 title on a famous website's list of the top 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The popular band are stuck in the UK after concluding their global concert series and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an evil Santa, who sings to announce they won’t get home until they “find their familial spark.”

The back-and-forth between the arguing trio is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while devotees will undoubtedly notice lots of references as they endeavor to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is great for devotees and a solid start to the day.

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

Next: A Star in Panto

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland stars as a Hollywood star roped into a traditional British stage show.

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging star Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s starring in high-class London stage.

His Aladdin cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their reply. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

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

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit naff at any other time of year, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer appears at the outset of this film, too, insulting someone for the next movie straight. Could this be a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who encounters Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is visited by the apparitions 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 regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There's just enough time for a major broadcaster's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he receives an large festive windfall at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money on a vacation 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 devise a plan for how to pay back the excess.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a country estate to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. On the way, she runs into a guy in a bookshop who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A commentator recently declared this is the finest new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a dash of elegance and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is particularly strong too.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The truth is out there, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the guidance of a group of well-known scientists and personalities.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a dysfunctional 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 opens by name-dropping 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 unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in execution it’s really a mash-up of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally comes into her own.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the packed genre of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—holiday fare.

It’s a story as familiar as can be: An American woman travels to a distant snowy land and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher