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

‘Tis the season to relax on the sofa and devour a packet of festive treats in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

Once again, a selection of latest seasonal stories aims to become part of our festive viewing—maybe even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Therefore, in a helpful attempt to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I marathoned as many new Christmas films as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, optimistically, on a high. This release is the only 2025 title on a popular review site's list of the top 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are stuck in the UK after concluding their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to announce they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The repartee between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the non-fan, while fans will certainly pick up on lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

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

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

8.45am - Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor roped into a "panto".

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging star Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has tricked him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their retort. Unless you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming storylines, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

An actor appears at the start of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Might this become a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who encounters 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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story unfolds as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is visited 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 charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is flat—a significant issue when he’s so the focal point.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There's just enough time for a network's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) convinces him spending the sum on a holiday to Lapland.

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

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

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

Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a French chateau to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. En route, she meets a fellow in a bookshop who promises to show her a festive Paris.

A critic recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a hint of sophistication and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

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

The truth is out there, and Chris sets out to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s understated but charming, and perfect viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a dysfunctional American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee 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 stating: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in reality it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last finds her strength.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

It’s a tale as well-worn: An American woman journeys to a far-off wintery locale and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher