Binge-Watching The Latest Christmas Films: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

‘Tis the time of year to relax on the couch and devour a box of mince pies in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.

This year, a batch of fresh seasonal stories hopes to be part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a noble effort to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the festive feeling, I marathoned as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, optimistically, on a good foot. This is the only 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The Jonas Brothers end up stuck in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who breaks into song to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the uninitiated, while fans will no doubt pick up on lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is superb for devotees and a positive start to the day.

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

Next: A Star in Panto

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a celebrity cast a traditional British stage show.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s performing in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. One can imagine their response. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some great jokes, some heartwarming sub-plots, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

A familiar face pops up at the outset of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second consecutive movie. Might this become a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted by the ghosts of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

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

But after he gets an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) talks him into splurging the cash on a vacation to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—he learns there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to reimburse the difference.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the setting—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. En route, she meets a man in a literary haven who vows to show her a festive Paris.

A critic recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, regardless of the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

The truth is out there, and Chris sets out to find it with the assistance of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a dysfunctional 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 saying: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a jumble of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new entry in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as familiar as can be: An American woman journeys to a picturesque cold country and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher