Devouring This Year's Christmas Films: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the time of year to slob out on the couch and consume a tin of festive treats in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

This year, a crop of latest seasonal stories strives to join part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to embrace the festive feeling, I watched as many new festive movies as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, hopefully, on a high. This release is the exclusive 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The musical trio find themselves trapped in the UK after concluding their global concert series and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “find their sibling bond.”

The banter between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the non-fan, while devotees will undoubtedly notice lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not an all-time classic, but is excellent for devotees and a positive start to the day.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who must sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a celebrity cast a pantomime.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and older star Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose representative has tricked him into thinking he’s appearing in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. It's easy to predict their response. Except if you’re not acquainted with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some very funny lines, some touching storylines, and the ensemble is excellent, too.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

An actor shows up at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who collects Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least different from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There's just enough time for a major broadcaster's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he receives an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a family trip to Lapland.

There’s just one problem—he learns there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to pay back the difference.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its main point—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. During her travels, she runs into a fellow in a bookshop who vows to show her a festive Paris.

A commentator recently declared this is the top new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the required heartwarming sensation.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, in spite of the efforts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

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

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

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

Pfeiffer begins by referencing 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 real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in execution it’s really a jumble of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but happily here’s a new offering in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food.

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher