Devouring This Year's Christmas Films: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the season to relax on the sofa and demolish a tin of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

As always, a selection of new seasonal stories strives to join part of our seasonal watchlist—perhaps even earning a place alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

So, in a helpful attempt to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I binged as many recent holiday releases as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, ideally, on a positive note. This is the only 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are trapped in the UK after finishing their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are thwarted by an evil Santa, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “find their sibling bond.”

The banter between the arguing trio is amusing even for the uninitiated, while devotees will certainly catch lots of references as they attempt to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

It’s not legendary, but is great for fans and a solid 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

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a Hollywood star roped into a traditional British stage show.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s starring in high-class London stage.

His Aladdin cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. One can imagine their reply. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.

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

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at any other time of year, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

An actor appears at the outset of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the next movie straight. Is this a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who collects Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 well-known tale unfolds as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least unique from all the others, but sadly he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s acting is flat—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There's just enough time for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he gets an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) talks him into splurging the cash 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 determine how to pay back the excess.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. En route, she runs into a man in a literary haven who promises to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

An expert 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 Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is particularly strong too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, in spite of the efforts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the truth.

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

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a dysfunctional 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 opens by name-dropping classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new offering in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as familiar as can be: An American woman travels to a far-off wintery locale and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher