Binge-Watching This Year's Holiday Movies: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

‘Tis the time of year to relax on the sofa and consume a tin of mince pies in front of a terrific flick, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

As always, a batch of new holiday movies strives to join part of our holiday traditions—maybe even joining the ranks alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a helpful attempt to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to get into the Christmas spirit, I watched as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, hopefully, on a positive note. This is the exclusive 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The popular band are stuck in the UK after finishing their global concert series and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who breaks into song to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”

The back-and-forth between the arguing trio is entertaining even for the non-fan, while devotees will no doubt catch lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

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

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

Next: A Star in Panto

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor cast a "panto".

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he protests. You can guess their retort. That is, unless you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some great jokes, some heartwarming sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is brilliant, too.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

An actor pops up at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Is this a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters Mr Sood, the modern take 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 classic narrative develops as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is haunted by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least distinct from all the others, but sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There's just enough time for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he gets an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money on a vacation to Lapland.

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

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the background—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she encounters a fellow in a literary haven who offers to show her Christmas in Paris.

A commentator recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a festive dalliance with a dash of elegance and gives the required heartwarming sensation.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, regardless of the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

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

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a quarrelling American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer starts by mentioning Christmas classics like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before declaring: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in execution it’s really a jumble of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last comes into her own.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

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

It’s a story as old as time: An American woman travels to a far-off wintery locale and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher