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

‘Tis the season to relax on the couch and demolish a packet of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

As always, a crop of latest seasonal stories strives to join part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the festive feeling, I marathoned as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, optimistically, on a high. This is the exclusive 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band end up stuck in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are hindered by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their sibling bond.”

The back-and-forth between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the casual viewer, while followers will no doubt notice lots of references as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

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

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland stars as a celebrity cast a pantomime.

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing lead Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose manager has tricked him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin co-stars inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their retort. Except if you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some very funny lines, some touching side stories, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit tacky at any other time of year, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

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

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who encounters 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 progresses 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 South Asian reinterpretation is at least distinct from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a problem when he’s so central to everything.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There’s time for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

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

There’s just one problem—he discovers there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to pay back the excess.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a country estate to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. En route, she encounters a fellow in a book store who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

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

The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is particularly strong too.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, despite the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

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

It’s gentle but sweet, and ideal viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a bickering 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 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 unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in execution it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—holiday fare.

It’s a story as well-worn: An American woman journeys to a picturesque cold country and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher