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

‘Tis the time of year to lounge on the couch and demolish a tin of mince pies in front of a terrific flick, a bad movie, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

Once again, a selection of new holiday movies hopes to be part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even earning a place alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Thus, in a vital public service to separate the winners from the losers, and to find the holiday mood, I watched as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Beginning, hopefully, on a positive note. This is the exclusive 2025 title on a famous website's list of the best 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band find themselves stranded in the UK after finishing their global concert series and must return for Christmas. Their efforts are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The back-and-forth between the arguing trio is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while followers will undoubtedly notice lots of easter eggs as they attempt to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who will have to sit through it.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor roped into a pantomime.

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

His Aladdin fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their retort. Except if you’re not acquainted with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some great jokes, some heartwarming sub-plots, and the supporting actors is excellent, too.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

An actor shows up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Might this become a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative unfolds as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least unique from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a problem when he’s so central to everything.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

Before lunch for a network's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.”

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

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

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. En route, she meets a man in a book store who promises to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

An expert recently stated this is the top new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a Christmas romance with a touch of class and gives the obligatory cozy feelings.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The truth is somewhere, and Chris sets out to find it with the assistance of a team of well-known figures.

It’s gentle but charming, and good viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch 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 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 unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in reality it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last comes into her own.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the packed genre of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as familiar as can be: An American woman journeys to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher