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

It is the time of year to slob out on the couch and consume a packet of mince pies in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s awesomely awful.

As always, a batch of fresh Christmas films hopes to be part of our festive viewing—maybe even earning a place alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

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

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, optimistically, on a high. This film is the sole 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band are trapped in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their sibling bond.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while fans will certainly catch lots of references 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 solid start to the day.

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

Next: A Star in Panto

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor tricked into a pantomime.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and older star Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s appearing in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin co-stars tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. You can guess their reply. Unless you’re not acquainted with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some great jokes, some cockle-warming storylines, and the ensemble is brilliant, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit naff at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

A familiar face pops up at the start of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second consecutive movie. Might this become a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale unfolds as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is confronted by the ghosts 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 portrayal is flat—a problem when he’s so the main character.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

Before lunch for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) convinces him blowing the money on a vacation to Lapland.

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

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the background—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 vineyard to do a deal for a champagne business. During her travels, she meets a man in a book store who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A critic recently claimed this is the finest new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a festive dalliance with a hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory cozy feelings.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, in spite of the attempts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The truth is somewhere, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s low-key but charming, and ideal viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a quarrelling American family who reunite for the holidays—including other acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping holiday staples 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 reality it’s really a combination of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last finds her strength.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but thankfully here’s a new addition in the saturated market of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as familiar as can be: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher