Binge-Watching The Latest Festive Features: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the time of year to lounge on the sofa and devour a tin of mince pies in front of a terrific flick, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

As always, a crop of new seasonal stories aims to become part of our festive viewing—maybe even joining the ranks alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

Therefore, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the holiday mood, I marathoned as many recent holiday releases as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

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

The musical trio find themselves stranded in the UK after concluding their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”

The back-and-forth between the arguing trio is amusing even for the uninitiated, while followers will no doubt pick up on lots of references as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not legendary, but is excellent for fans and a positive start to the day.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who will have to sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor tricked into a pantomime.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has deceived him into thinking he’s appearing in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. It's easy to predict their response. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some great jokes, some cockle-warming storylines, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit naff at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

A familiar face shows up at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Is this a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who collects Mr Sood, the newest interpretation on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Mr Sood is played by a star of Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative develops as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted 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 compelling and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There's just enough time for a network's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he gets an large festive windfall at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him splurging the cash on a vacation to Lapland.

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

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—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 (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. En route, she runs into a guy in a book store who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

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

The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is very good too.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, regardless of the persuasion of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

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

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a quarrelling American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping holiday staples like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a combination of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but happily here’s a new offering in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a story as well-worn: An American woman goes on a quest to a picturesque cold country and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher