Marathon Viewing The Latest Christmas Films: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

‘Tis the season to relax on the sofa and devour a packet of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.

This year, a crop of fresh holiday movies hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—perhaps even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Thus, in a vital public service to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to find the Christmas spirit, I binged as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Starting, ideally, on a positive note. This film is the exclusive 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band find themselves stranded in the UK after finishing their international trek and must return for Christmas. Their endeavors are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while devotees will certainly pick up on lots of easter eggs as they endeavor to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

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

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

Next: A Star in Panto

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

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and ageing lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. You can guess their response. Except if you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some great jokes, some touching storylines, and the ensemble is brilliant, too.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

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

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 the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale progresses as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the ghosts 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 unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s acting is wooden—a major flaw when he’s so the focal point.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There's just enough time for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he receives an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) convinces him splurging the cash on a vacation to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—he discovers there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to return the difference.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

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

Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. During her travels, she runs into a man in a bookshop who vows to show her Christmas in Paris.

An expert recently declared 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 hint of sophistication and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is notable too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, despite the efforts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the truth.

The answer is out there, and Chris sets out to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s gentle but sweet, and perfect viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a quarrelling American family who come back together for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer begins by referencing classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in reality it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new entry in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—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 stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher