Binge-Watching The Latest Holiday Movies: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the season to relax on the couch and demolish a box of festive treats in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

This year, a batch of latest seasonal stories hopes to be part of our festive viewing—potentially even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Thus, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the holiday mood, I binged as many recent holiday releases as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, optimistically, on a good foot. This film is the only 2025 title on a popular review site's list of the greatest 100 holiday films of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are stranded in the UK after finishing their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to declare they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.”

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the uninitiated, while fans will no doubt catch 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 an all-time classic, but is excellent for devotees and a positive start to the day.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who must sit through it.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor roped into a traditional British stage show.

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

His pantomime co-stars tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he protests. One can imagine their reply. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming sub-plots, and the ensemble is brilliant, too.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor shows up at the beginning 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 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 the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least unique from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a major flaw when he’s so central to everything.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

Before lunch for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) convinces him splurging the cash on a holiday to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—he finds out there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to reimburse the excess.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

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 cosy and festive all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a vineyard to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. On the way, she meets a man in a bookshop who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

A commentator recently claimed 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 obligatory heartwarming sensation.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The truth is out there, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the assistance of a team of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s low-key but charming, and ideal viewing while anticipating 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 other 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 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 jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new addition in the crowded field of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and strangely compelling—holiday fare.

It’s a tale as well-worn: An American woman travels to a far-off wintery locale and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher