Binge-Watching The Latest Holiday Movies: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

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

As always, a crop of latest Christmas films aims to become part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even finding a spot alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

So, in a helpful attempt to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to embrace the holiday mood, I marathoned as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

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

The Jonas Brothers find themselves stranded in the UK after finishing their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their efforts are hindered by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

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

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is superb for devotees and a good start to the day.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who are obliged to sit through it.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

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

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and older lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s starring in high-class London stage.

His pantomime co-stars inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. One can imagine their retort. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

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

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit tacky at any other time of year, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer appears at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Is this a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up Mr Sood, the modern take 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 director of Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is visited by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least distinct from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is lifeless—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

Before lunch for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money 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 determine how to reimburse the excess.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a French chateau to do a deal for a champagne business. On the way, she runs into a guy in a bookshop who vows to show her a festive Paris.

An expert recently claimed this is the best new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the required heartwarming sensation.

The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is particularly strong 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 (played by James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The answer is somewhere, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the expert help of a group of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s low-key but charming, and good viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a bickering 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 begins by referencing 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 real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s gone downhill, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as well-worn: An American woman goes on a quest to a far-off wintery locale and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher