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

It is the season to lounge on the sofa and consume a box of holiday pastries in front of a terrific flick, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

Once again, a batch of new Christmas films hopes to be part of our holiday traditions—potentially even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a vital public service to separate the winners from the losers, and to find the Christmas spirit, I marathoned as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, optimistically, on a good foot. This is the only 2025 title on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The musical trio find themselves trapped in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their efforts are hampered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to state 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 notice lots of easter eggs as they attempt to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not an all-time classic, but is excellent for devotees and a good start to the day.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who must 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 “hard-to-work-with” and aging action hero Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has tricked him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin co-stars let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. You can guess their reply. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some very funny lines, some touching side stories, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

An actor pops up at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who collects Mr Sood, the modern take 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 director of Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but sadly he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There’s time for a network's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he receives an large festive windfall at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) persuades him splurging the cash on a holiday to Lapland.

There’s just one problem—he discovers there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to reimburse the difference.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a vineyard to do a deal for a champagne business. On the way, she encounters a man in a book store who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

An expert recently stated this is the top new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a holiday love story with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, regardless of the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The answer is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a group of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s gentle but sweet, and good viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a bickering American family who come back together for the holidays—including other 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 what this is, but in execution it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but happily 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 well-worn: An American woman goes on a quest to a far-off wintery locale and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher