Devouring The Latest Festive Features: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

It is the time of year to lounge on the couch and demolish a box of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

Once again, a batch of fresh Christmas films hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even finding a spot alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Therefore, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I binged as many recent Christmas films as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, optimistically, on a good foot. This release is the sole 2025 title on a famous website's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band end up trapped in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”

The back-and-forth between the squabbling siblings is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while devotees will undoubtedly catch lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not legendary, but is superb for devotees and a good start to the day.

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

Next: A Star in Panto

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

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

His Aladdin fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. You can guess their reply. Except if you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some great jokes, some touching side stories, and the ensemble is cracking, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit cheesy at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

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

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who collects 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative unfolds as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least distinct from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a major flaw 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 lovably grouchy guy who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) talks him into splurging the cash on a family trip to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—he discovers there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to return the excess.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its main point—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. En route, she runs into a guy in a literary haven who promises to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A commentator recently declared 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 touch of class and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is very good too.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

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

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother 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 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 unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in practice it’s really a combination of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new entry in the packed genre of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and utterly watchable—seasonal comfort food.

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher