Binge-Watching This Year's Festive Features: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the time of year to relax on the sofa and devour a packet of festive treats in front of a good movie, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

This year, a selection of new Christmas films hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

So, in a noble effort to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to get into the Christmas spirit, I binged as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, hopefully, on a high. This release is the sole 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band end up stranded in the UK after concluding their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “find their familial spark.”

The banter between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the casual viewer, while devotees will certainly notice lots of references as they try to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not an all-time classic, but is great for devotees and a good start to the day.

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

Next: A Star in Panto

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor tricked into a traditional British stage show.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.

His pantomime co-stars let him know he’s playing Buttons. “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 very funny lines, some heartwarming storylines, and the supporting actors is excellent, too.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

A familiar face shows up at the start of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Might this become a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who collects 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 the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale progresses as the stingy Mr Sood is visited by the spirits 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 charismatic and Nayyar’s acting is wooden—a major flaw when he’s so the focal point.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

Before lunch for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) convinces him blowing the money on a vacation to Lapland.

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

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

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

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she runs into a guy in a bookshop who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

An expert recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a holiday love story with a hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory heartwarming sensation.

The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is very good too.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

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

It’s low-key but endearing, and good viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

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

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in execution it’s really a mash-up of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new addition in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—holiday fare.

It’s a story as old as time: An American woman journeys to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher