Binge-Watching The Latest Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

It is the season to relax on the sofa and demolish a packet of mince pies in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

Once again, a batch of latest holiday movies aims to become part of our holiday traditions—maybe even finding a spot alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a noble effort to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to embrace the festive feeling, I watched as many recent holiday releases as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, optimistically, on a good foot. This film is the exclusive 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time.

The musical trio find themselves trapped in the UK after wrapping up their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”

The back-and-forth between the arguing trio is amusing even for the casual viewer, while devotees will undoubtedly pick up on lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not legendary, but is excellent for fans and a positive start to the day.

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

Next: A Star in Panto

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland appears as a celebrity roped into a "panto".

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and aging star Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose manager has deceived him into thinking he’s performing in high-class London stage.

His pantomime fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their response. Except if you’re not acquainted with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some hilarious moments, some heartwarming storylines, and the rest of the cast is brilliant, too.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

A familiar face pops up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the next movie straight. Might this become a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least unique from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is flat—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

Before lunch for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an large festive windfall at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money on a holiday to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—he finds out there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to return the remainder.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

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 raison d’etre—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. En route, she encounters a guy in a bookshop who offers to show her a festive Paris.

A commentator recently claimed this is the top new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

The truth is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a panel of well-known figures.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

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 what this is, but in practice it’s really a combination of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the saturated market of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as well-worn: An American woman travels to a distant snowy land and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher