Marathon Viewing This Year's Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

It is the season to relax on the sofa and devour a packet of mince pies in front of a terrific flick, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.

As always, a batch of latest holiday movies hopes to be part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even joining the ranks alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

So, in a noble effort to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the Christmas spirit, I watched as many new Christmas films as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Starting, ideally, on a high. This film is the sole 2025 movie on a popular review site's list of the best 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band end up stranded in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the uninitiated, while followers will certainly catch lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not an all-time classic, but is superb for devotees and a positive start to the day.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who are obliged 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 “temperamental” and aging action hero Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s appearing in high-class London stage.

His pantomime co-stars tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their response. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some very funny lines, some touching sub-plots, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

A familiar face shows up at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Might this become a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who encounters 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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative develops as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted 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 sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s acting is lifeless—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

Before lunch for a major broadcaster's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) persuades him spending the sum on a family trip to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—he discovers there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to pay back the remainder.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its main point—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a country estate to do a deal for a champagne business. En route, she runs into a guy in a book store who vows to show her a festive Paris.

A critic recently stated this is the best new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a dash of elegance and gives the required warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The truth is out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the assistance of a group of well-known scientists and personalities.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a quarrelling American family who come back together for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer starts by mentioning Christmas classics like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: “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 inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but thankfully here’s a new addition in the packed genre of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and highly entertaining—holiday fare.

It’s a tale as well-worn: An American woman travels to a picturesque cold country and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher