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

‘Tis the time of year to slob out on the couch and consume a packet of festive treats in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

Once again, a crop of fresh holiday movies strives to join part of our seasonal watchlist—potentially even joining the ranks alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Therefore, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the festive feeling, I binged as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, ideally, on a high. This release is the sole 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time.

The popular band find themselves trapped in the UK after finishing their global concert series and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an evil Santa, who breaks into song to announce they won’t get home until they “rediscover their sibling bond.”

The back-and-forth between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the non-fan, while followers will certainly notice lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

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

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity roped into a "panto".

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and aging action hero Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their response. That is, unless you’re not acquainted with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming storylines, and the rest of the cast is brilliant, too.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor pops up at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Might this become a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who collects 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 the director of Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale develops as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so the focal point.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

Before lunch for a channel's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he receives an large festive windfall at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) convinces him blowing the money on a family trip to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—he learns there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to reimburse the remainder.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the background—Christmas is the scene 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 dispatched to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. En route, she meets a guy in a book store who offers to show her Christmas in Paris.

A critic recently stated this is the best new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a Christmas romance with a hint of sophistication and gives the necessary cozy feelings.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

The truth is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the assistance of a group of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s low-key but endearing, and good viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

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

Pfeiffer starts by mentioning 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 execution it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new entry in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher