Binge-Watching This Year's Holiday Movies: 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 great film, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

As always, a selection of latest Christmas films strives to join part of our festive viewing—potentially even earning a place alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Therefore, in a noble effort to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the holiday mood, I watched as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, optimistically, on a positive note. This is the sole 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the top 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The musical trio find themselves stuck in the UK after finishing their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their efforts are thwarted by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “rediscover their sibling bond.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the non-fan, while fans will certainly notice lots of in-jokes as they endeavor 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 excellent for fans 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.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland stars as a movie actor tricked into a traditional British stage show.

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

His pantomime co-stars tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. It's easy to predict their reply. That is, unless you’re not acquainted with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some hilarious moments, some touching side stories, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

An actor pops up at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Is this a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who encounters Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 confronted by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least different from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s acting is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so the focal point.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There’s time for a network's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an large festive windfall at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him splurging the cash on a vacation 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 reimburse the remainder.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

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

Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she meets a man in a book store who offers to show her Christmas in Paris.

A critic recently declared this is the finest new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, despite the efforts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

The truth is out there, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the assistance of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s gentle but endearing, and perfect viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head 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 opens by name-dropping 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 the concept, but in execution it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new entry in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—holiday fare.

It’s a story as well-worn: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher