Binge-Watching This Year's Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.
It is the time of year to lounge on the couch and demolish a packet of festive treats in front of a terrific flick, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.
This year, a crop of fresh seasonal stories strives to join part of our holiday traditions—potentially even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).
Thus, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the Christmas spirit, I marathoned as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day.
7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Kicking off, optimistically, 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 Jonas Brothers end up stranded in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must return for Christmas. Their endeavors are hampered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”
The banter between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the uninitiated, while devotees will no doubt catch lots of easter eggs as they attempt to get back using every mode of travel possible.
It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.
It’s not an all-time classic, but is superb for fans and a positive start to the day.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who must sit through it.
8.45am - Tinsel Town
Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a Hollywood star tricked into a traditional British stage show.
“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging action hero Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s starring in renowned British drama.
His Aladdin fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. One can imagine their reply. Except if you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.
There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming storylines, and the ensemble is excellent, 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.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
A New Spin on Scrooge
An actor pops up at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Could this be a fresh holiday staple?
This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story unfolds as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is confronted by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.
This Indian Scrooge is at least different from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a problem when he’s so central to everything.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
12.04pm - Stuffed
There’s time for a network's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “isn't big on Christmas.”
But after he is awarded an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) talks him into spending the sum on a vacation to Lapland.
There’s just one issue—he finds out there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to reimburse 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 scene of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.
Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to do a deal for a champagne business. During her travels, she meets a guy in a literary haven who promises to show her the holidays in the City of Light.
A commentator recently stated this is the top new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a holiday love story with a hint of sophistication and gives the required warm and fuzzy feels.
The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is notable too.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas
Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, despite the efforts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the reality.
The secret is out there, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the assistance of a panel of well-known experts and celebrities.
It’s gentle but endearing, and good viewing while expecting Santa to visit.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a dysfunctional American family who come back together for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.
Pfeiffer starts by mentioning classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s what this is, but in reality it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new entry in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.
It’s a story as old as time: An American woman goes on a quest to a far-off wintery locale and ends up stumbling across romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher