Marathon Viewing This Year's Christmas Films: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

It is the season to lounge on the sofa and consume a box of festive treats in front of a terrific flick, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.

This year, a crop of fresh seasonal stories strives to join part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

So, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the festive feeling, I watched as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, hopefully, on a good foot. This release is the only 2025 movie 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 concluding their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.”

The repartee between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while followers will no doubt catch lots of references as they endeavor to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity cast a "panto".

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

His Aladdin co-stars let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their response. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some very funny lines, some touching sub-plots, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

An actor appears at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Is this a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who encounters Mr Sood, the modern take 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 the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops as the miserly Mr Sood is visited by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but sadly he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s acting is flat—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There’s time for a channel's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he gets 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 learns there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to pay back the remainder.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the tree, fairy lights and snow 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 (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. On the way, she encounters a fellow in a bookshop who vows to show her a festive Paris.

A critic recently claimed this is the best new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a holiday love story with a touch of class and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

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

It’s low-key but endearing, and ideal viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a quarrelling American family who reunite 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 stating: “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 forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—holiday fare.

It’s a narrative as well-worn: An American woman travels to a distant snowy land and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher