Devouring This Year's Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

‘Tis the season to lounge on the couch and consume a packet of festive treats in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

Once again, a crop of fresh seasonal stories hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—potentially even earning a place alongside beloved favorites 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 find the Christmas spirit, I marathoned as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, ideally, on a positive note. This is the exclusive 2025 title on a popular review site's list of the top 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The musical trio are stranded in the UK after finishing their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an evil Santa, who sings to declare they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is entertaining even for the uninitiated, while fans will undoubtedly pick up on lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using all transportation available.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who will have to sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor tricked into a "panto".

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and ageing lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s performing in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin co-stars tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their reply. Except if you’re not acquainted with traditional stage call-and-response.

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 naff at another season, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

A familiar face pops up at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Is this a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who encounters Mr Sood, the modern take 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 classic narrative progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is visited by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least unique from all the others, but sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a problem when he’s so the main character.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

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

But after he receives an sizable holiday payout 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 discovers there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to return the remainder.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations and snow are in the background—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. En route, she meets a guy in a literary haven who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

An expert recently claimed this is the top new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is very good too.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

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

The truth is somewhere, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s gentle but charming, and ideal viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a quarrelling 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 Christmas classics 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 what this is, but in execution it’s really a mash-up of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new addition in the packed genre of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.

It’s a tale as old as time: An American woman goes on a quest to a distant snowy land and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher