Devouring This Year's Festive Features: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the time of year to slob out on the sofa and consume a box of mince pies in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

As always, a crop of new seasonal stories hopes to be part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even earning a place alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

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

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, hopefully, on a good foot. This is the sole 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time.

The musical trio are trapped in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to declare they won’t get home until they “rediscover their sibling bond.”

The back-and-forth between the arguing trio is amusing even for the non-fan, while fans will undoubtedly notice lots of references as they attempt to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a celebrity roped into a traditional British stage show.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose manager has deceived him into thinking he’s starring in renowned British drama.

His pantomime fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. You can guess their reply. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some very funny lines, some touching sub-plots, and the ensemble is excellent, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

An actor shows up at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Is this 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 a star of Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is confronted by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least different from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

Before lunch for a channel's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “avoids Christmas.”

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

There’s just one snag—he learns there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to return the difference.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

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

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she encounters a fellow in a bookshop who vows to show her Christmas in Paris.

An expert recently stated this is the best new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a holiday love story with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary cozy feelings.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The answer is to be discovered, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s low-key but endearing, and perfect viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a quarrelling American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress 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 real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in reality it’s really a combination of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last comes into her own.

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 cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—holiday fare.

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher