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

It is the season to slob out on the sofa and devour a box of mince pies in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

This year, a batch of latest seasonal stories strives to join part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

So, in a vital public service to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to embrace the festive feeling, I marathoned as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, hopefully, on a high. This is the sole 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 festive features of all time.

The Jonas Brothers end up trapped in the UK after concluding their international trek and must make it back for Christmas. Their attempts are hindered by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “find their sibling bond.”

The banter between the arguing trio is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while fans will no doubt pick up on lots of in-jokes as they endeavor to get back using all transportation available.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a Hollywood star roped into a "panto".

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s appearing in high-class London stage.

His Aladdin cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their retort. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some great jokes, some heartwarming side stories, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit cheesy at any other time of year, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

A familiar face shows up at the start of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Might this become a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters Mr Sood, the modern take 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 well-known tale develops as the stingy Mr Sood is visited by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least different from all the others, but sadly he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There's just enough time for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “isn't big on Christmas.”

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

There’s just one problem—he learns there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to pay back the excess.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the background—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. En route, she encounters a fellow in a literary haven who promises to show her a festive Paris.

A commentator recently claimed this is the best new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a Christmas romance with a touch of class and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The answer is somewhere, and Chris sets out to find it with the assistance of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s understated but charming, and ideal viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a quarrelling American family who gather 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 declaring: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, 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 fortunately here’s a new offering in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a narrative as familiar as can be: An American woman goes on a quest to a picturesque cold country and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher