Marathon Viewing This Year's Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

‘Tis the season to lounge on the sofa and devour a packet of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

As always, a crop of latest seasonal stories hopes to be part of our holiday traditions—maybe even joining the ranks alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

So, in a vital public service to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I watched as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Starting, ideally, on a positive note. This film is the sole 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the best 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band are trapped in the UK after concluding their international trek and must make it back for Christmas. Their efforts are hampered by an evil Santa, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The banter between the arguing trio is amusing even for the casual viewer, while followers will undoubtedly notice lots of in-jokes as they endeavor to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who must sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor roped into a traditional British stage show.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose manager has misled him into thinking he’s appearing in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their response. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

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

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

A familiar face pops up at the start of this film, too, insulting someone for the next movie straight. Might this become a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who collects Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 confronted by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least distinct from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a major flaw when he’s so central to everything.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There's just enough time for a network's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “isn't big on Christmas.”

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

There’s just one snag—he learns there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to return the remainder.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations and snow are in the background—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its main point—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. En route, she runs into a fellow in a book store who vows to show her Christmas in Paris.

A commentator recently claimed this is the top new Christmas film of the past few years. 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 detailed conversation about Die Hard is particularly strong too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

The truth is to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known experts and celebrities.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a bickering American family who come back together for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee 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 declaring: “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 aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new offering in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a story as familiar as can be: An American woman travels to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher