Devouring The Latest Festive Features: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

‘Tis the season to lounge on the couch and devour a tin of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

This year, a batch of latest holiday movies strives to join part of our festive viewing—potentially even joining the ranks alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

Thus, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I binged as many recent Christmas films as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Kicking off, optimistically, on a positive note. This release is the exclusive 2025 movie on a popular review site's list of the greatest 100 festive features of all time.

The musical trio find themselves stranded in the UK after concluding their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are hindered by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “find their familial spark.”

The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the casual viewer, while followers will undoubtedly notice lots of easter eggs as they attempt to get back using all transportation available.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who will have to sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor roped into a pantomime.

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s starring in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. One can imagine their retort. Except if you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some hilarious moments, some touching sub-plots, and the ensemble is brilliant, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit naff at a different time, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

A familiar face pops up at the outset of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who encounters 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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative develops 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 Indian Scrooge is at least distinct from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s acting is wooden—a problem when he’s so central to everything.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There’s time for a major broadcaster's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he gets an large festive windfall at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money 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 return the remainder.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. En route, she encounters a fellow in a book store who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A commentator recently claimed this is the finest new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

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

It’s gentle but endearing, and ideal viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a bickering American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer starts by mentioning 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 unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in practice it’s really a combination of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the packed genre of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and strangely compelling—holiday fare.

It’s a story as old as time: An American woman travels to a picturesque cold country and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher