Marathon Viewing The Latest Festive Features: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

‘Tis the time of year to lounge on the sofa and demolish a packet of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

As always, a selection of latest Christmas films hopes to be part of our holiday traditions—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 separate the winners from the losers, and to embrace the holiday mood, I watched as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Kicking off, ideally, on a high. This release is the sole 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the best 100 holiday films of all time.

The popular band find themselves trapped in the UK after concluding their international trek and must return for Christmas. Their efforts are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the casual viewer, while followers will certainly catch lots of references as they endeavor to get back using all transportation available.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

It’s not an all-time classic, but is superb for fans and a good start to the day.

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

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland appears as a Hollywood star tricked 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 representative has misled 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. It's easy to predict their response. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some great jokes, some heartwarming sub-plots, and the ensemble is brilliant, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at any other time of year, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

A familiar face appears at the beginning 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 musical taxi operator who picks up Mr Sood, the modern take on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Mr Sood is played by an actor from Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale develops as the miserly Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions 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 regrettably he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so the focal point.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

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

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

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

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the background—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its main point—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a country estate to do a deal for a champagne business. En route, she runs into a guy in a bookshop who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

A commentator recently declared this is the top new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary cozy feelings.

The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is very good too.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, in spite of the attempts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

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

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a dysfunctional American family who reunite for the holidays—including other acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping 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 real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

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

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher