Devouring The Latest Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

‘Tis the time of year to relax on the sofa and consume a tin of festive treats in front of a good movie, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

This year, a crop of fresh holiday movies strives to join part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even earning a place alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

Thus, in a noble effort to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to find the festive feeling, I marathoned as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Starting, ideally, on a good foot. This film is the sole 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the top 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are trapped in the UK after concluding their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who sings to declare they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”

The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the uninitiated, while followers will undoubtedly catch 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 positive start to the day.

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland appears as a celebrity tricked into a pantomime.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and older action hero Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their reply. Unless you’re ignorant of traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some great jokes, some heartwarming sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

An actor appears at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Is this a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who picks up 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 the director of Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale develops as the miserly Mr Sood is visited by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least different from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a problem when he’s so central to everything.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There’s time for a major broadcaster's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he receives an large festive windfall at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) talks him into spending the sum on a holiday to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—he discovers 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 excess.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations 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.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she encounters a fellow in a book store who vows to show her a festive Paris.

An expert recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a festive dalliance with a hint of sophistication and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

The answer is to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known figures.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

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

Pfeiffer begins by referencing Christmas classics 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 practice it’s really a combination of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally finds her strength.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new addition in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—holiday fare.

It’s a tale as familiar as can be: An American woman goes on a quest to a distant snowy land and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher