Binge-Watching The Latest Christmas Films: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the time of year to slob out on the sofa and consume a tin of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

Once again, a batch of fresh seasonal stories strives to join part of our festive viewing—potentially even earning a place alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

So, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I watched as many recent holiday releases as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, hopefully, on a high. This is the only 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the greatest 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band find themselves stuck in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who sings to declare they won’t get home until they “find their familial spark.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the uninitiated, while fans will no doubt notice lots of references as they endeavor to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is great for fans and a good start to the day.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who must sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland appears as a celebrity roped into a "panto".

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older star Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose manager has misled him into thinking he’s starring in renowned British drama.

His pantomime co-stars tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. You can guess their response. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional panto catchphrases.

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

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

Danny Dyer pops up at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Might this become a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who picks up 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 director of Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is visited by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least unique from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is lifeless—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

Before lunch for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an large festive windfall at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) convinces him blowing the money on a holiday 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 difference.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the background—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. On the way, she encounters a guy in a literary haven who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

An expert recently declared this is the finest new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

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

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

It’s understated but charming, and good viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

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 opens by name-dropping holiday staples 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 reality it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—holiday fare.

It’s a story as familiar as can be: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher