Binge-Watching 2025's Festive Features: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

‘Tis the time of year to slob out on the couch and consume a tin of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.

This year, a selection of latest holiday movies hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—potentially even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

So, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the festive feeling, I marathoned as many new festive movies as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Starting, optimistically, on a high. This is the only 2025 title on a popular review site's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The popular band find themselves stuck in the UK after concluding their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “rediscover their sibling bond.”

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is entertaining even for the non-fan, while fans will undoubtedly catch lots of easter eggs as they try 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 solid start to the day.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who are obliged to sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

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

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and older lead Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. You can guess their response. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

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

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit cheesy at any other time of year, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer shows up at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the second film in a row. Is this a new Christmas tradition?

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 an actor from Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale unfolds as the miserly Mr Sood is haunted by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least unique from all the others, but sadly he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a problem when he’s so the main character.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There's just enough time for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) persuades him spending the sum on a family trip to Lapland.

There’s just one problem—he learns there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to reimburse the difference.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings 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.

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 man in a literary haven who offers to show her Christmas in Paris.

A critic recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a Christmas romance with a hint of sophistication and gives the required cozy feelings.

The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is particularly strong too.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, in spite of the persuasion of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

The answer is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a quarrelling American family who come back together for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee 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 declaring: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in reality it’s really a combination of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the packed genre of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food.

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher