Binge-Watching This Year's Holiday Movies: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

It is the time of year to slob out on the couch and demolish a packet of festive treats in front of a good movie, a bad movie, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

As always, a crop of new Christmas films strives to join part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I watched as many new Christmas films as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

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

The popular band end up stranded in the UK after finishing their global concert series and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “find their sibling bond.”

The repartee between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the non-fan, while followers will undoubtedly pick up on lots of easter eggs as they attempt to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is excellent for fans and a solid start to the day.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who will have to sit through it.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor cast a pantomime.

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

His pantomime fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. You can guess their reply. Unless you’re ignorant of traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some very funny lines, some heartwarming side stories, and the ensemble is excellent, too.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor appears at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Is this a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who collects 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 the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is confronted by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least different from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s acting is wooden—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There’s time for a major broadcaster's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an large festive windfall at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) convinces him spending the sum on a vacation to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—he learns there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to return the excess.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a French chateau to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she encounters a man in a bookshop who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

A commentator recently declared this is the finest new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a Christmas romance with a hint of sophistication and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.

The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is very good too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The answer is somewhere, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known figures.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a bickering American family who reunite 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 saying: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in reality it’s really a jumble of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but thankfully here’s a new entry in the saturated market of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and utterly watchable—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a narrative as old as time: An American woman goes on a quest to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher