Marathon Viewing The Latest Holiday Movies: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the season to slob out on the couch and devour a box of festive treats in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

As always, a batch of new seasonal stories aims to become part of our festive viewing—potentially even finding a spot alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a noble effort to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I binged as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, hopefully, on a good foot. This film is the only 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 holiday films of all time.

The musical trio end up stuck in the UK after wrapping up their global concert series and must make it back for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to state they won’t get home until they “find their familial spark.”

The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the uninitiated, while followers will no doubt catch lots of easter eggs as they attempt to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

It’s not an all-time classic, but is excellent for fans and a solid start to the day.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who will have to sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

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

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and aging action hero Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has tricked him into thinking he’s starring in high-class London stage.

His Aladdin co-stars let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he protests. You can guess their reply. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming sub-plots, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

A familiar face pops up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who collects Mr Sood, the latest spin on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Mr Sood is played by The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops as the miserly Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least distinct from all the others, but sadly he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s acting is flat—a major flaw when he’s so the focal point.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: 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 gets an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a vacation to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—he finds out there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to pay back the difference.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. On the way, she runs into a man in a book store who vows to show her a festive Paris.

An expert recently stated this is the top new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the obligatory cozy feelings.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

The secret is somewhere, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the expert help of a panel of well-known figures.

It’s low-key but sweet, and ideal viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a bickering American family who reunite for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee 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 stating: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last comes into her own.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.

It’s a tale as old as time: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher