Devouring This Year's Holiday Movies: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

It is the time of year to lounge on the couch and demolish a packet of mince pies in front of a good movie, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

Once again, a crop of new holiday movies aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—perhaps even finding a spot alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Therefore, in a vital public service to separate the winners from the losers, and to find the festive feeling, I binged as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, optimistically, on a high. This release is the sole 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time.

The popular band end up trapped in the UK after finishing their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The banter between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the non-fan, while devotees will undoubtedly notice lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who are obliged to sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland stars as a movie actor cast a traditional British stage show.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older action hero Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has deceived him into thinking he’s performing in renowned British drama.

His pantomime co-stars let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their response. That is, unless you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some hilarious moments, some touching side stories, and the ensemble is cracking, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit naff at a different time, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

An actor pops up at the start of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the next movie straight. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 develops as the stingy Mr Sood is visited by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s acting is wooden—a major flaw when he’s so the focal point.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There's just enough time for a network's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) talks him into splurging the cash on a vacation to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—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 remainder.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

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 core purpose—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she meets a fellow in a literary haven who vows to show her Christmas in Paris.

A critic recently declared 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 hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

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

The answer is somewhere, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the assistance of a group of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s gentle but endearing, and ideal viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

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

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping Christmas classics 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 premise, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the crowded field of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a story 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