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

It is the time of year to lounge on the couch and demolish a box of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.

As always, a crop of latest seasonal stories aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even finding a spot alongside beloved favorites 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 find the holiday mood, I binged as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, ideally, on a high. This is the exclusive 2025 title on a popular review site's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are stuck in the UK after wrapping up their global concert series and must return for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”

The banter between the arguing trio is amusing even for the non-fan, while fans will undoubtedly catch lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

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

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a celebrity tricked into a traditional British stage show.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older lead Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose manager has tricked him into thinking he’s starring in high-class London stage.

His Aladdin co-stars let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. It's easy to predict their retort. Except if you’re ignorant of traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming storylines, and the ensemble is cracking, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit cheesy at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer appears at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the next movie straight. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who collects Mr Sood, the modern take 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 stingy Mr Sood is confronted by the ghosts 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 regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so the focal point.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There’s time for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he gets an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) convinces him blowing the money on a holiday to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—he finds out there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to pay back the remainder.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

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

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a vineyard to do a deal for a champagne business. En route, she meets a fellow in a literary haven who vows to show her a festive Paris.

A critic recently claimed this is the best new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the required warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is very good too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

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

The answer is out there, and Chris sets out to find it with the assistance of a group of well-known experts and celebrities.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a dysfunctional American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress 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 real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in execution it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last finds her strength.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new offering in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—holiday fare.

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher