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

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

Once again, a crop of fresh seasonal stories hopes to be part of our holiday traditions—maybe even finding a spot alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

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

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Beginning, ideally, on a high. This release is the sole 2025 title on a popular review site's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The musical trio are trapped in the UK after finishing their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an evil Santa, who breaks into song to announce they won’t get home until they “rekindle their sibling bond.”

The banter between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while devotees will undoubtedly pick up on lots of references as they attempt to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

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

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

8.45am - Tinsel Town

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

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose manager has misled him into thinking he’s performing in high-class London stage.

His pantomime cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. One can imagine their response. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

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

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

Danny Dyer pops up at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Could this be a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who picks up Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale develops as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is confronted by the ghosts of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least distinct from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so the focal point.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

Before lunch for a channel's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he gets an large festive windfall at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) talks him into splurging the cash on a vacation to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—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 excess.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. On the way, she meets a guy in a bookshop who promises to show her a festive Paris.

A commentator recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a Christmas romance with a touch of class and gives the required warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, in spite of the efforts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The secret is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s understated but charming, and ideal viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a bickering American family who come back together for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer starts by mentioning Christmas classics 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 concept, but in practice it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new addition in the saturated market of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and utterly watchable—holiday fare.

It’s a story as well-worn: An American woman journeys to a picturesque cold country and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher