🔗 Share this article Marathon Viewing This Year's Festive Features: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights. ‘Tis the time of year to lounge on the couch and demolish a box of holiday pastries in front of a terrific flick, a bad movie, or one that’s so bad it’s good. As always, a batch of new holiday movies hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even finding a spot alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments). Therefore, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the festive feeling, I binged as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day. Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie Beginning, optimistically, on a positive note. This is the exclusive 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time. The musical trio end up stuck in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.” The back-and-forth between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the casual viewer, while devotees will certainly pick up on lots of references as they try to get back using all transportation available. It’s private planes, trains and automobiles. It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is great for devotees and a positive start to the day. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who must sit through it. Next: A Star in Panto Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a celebrity cast 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 prestigious English theatre. His pantomime cast-mates let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their reply. Unless you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response. There are some very funny lines, some heartwarming sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is excellent, too. It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at any other time of year, but is a great entertainment at Christmas. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄 10.19am - Christmas Karma Danny Dyer appears at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Might this become a fresh holiday staple? 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 a star of Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative develops as the stingy Mr Sood is visited by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George. This Indian Scrooge is at least different from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s acting is flat—a problem when he’s so the main character. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 Lunchtime: Stuffed There’s time for a network's Christmas comedy-drama—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 (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a vacation to Lapland. There’s just one problem—he finds out there was an mix-up 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. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 A Classy Netflix Romance This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the setting—Christmas is the scene 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 country estate to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she encounters a man in a literary haven who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light. A commentator recently claimed this is the best new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the required cozy feelings. The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is notable too. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, regardless of the persuasion of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise. The answer is to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities. It’s low-key but charming, and ideal viewing while expecting Santa to visit. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun. Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a quarrelling American family who come back together for the holidays—including fellow 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 unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.” So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually takes center stage. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 Formulaic Fun The day’s taken a dip, but fortunately here’s a new offering in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—holiday fare. It’s a narrative as old as time: An American woman travels to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance. In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
‘Tis the time of year to lounge on the couch and demolish a box of holiday pastries in front of a terrific flick, a bad movie, or one that’s so bad it’s good. As always, a batch of new holiday movies hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even finding a spot alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments). Therefore, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the festive feeling, I binged as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day. Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie Beginning, optimistically, on a positive note. This is the exclusive 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time. The musical trio end up stuck in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.” The back-and-forth between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the casual viewer, while devotees will certainly pick up on lots of references as they try to get back using all transportation available. It’s private planes, trains and automobiles. It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is great for devotees and a positive start to the day. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who must sit through it. Next: A Star in Panto Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a celebrity cast 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 prestigious English theatre. His pantomime cast-mates let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their reply. Unless you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response. There are some very funny lines, some heartwarming sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is excellent, too. It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at any other time of year, but is a great entertainment at Christmas. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄 10.19am - Christmas Karma Danny Dyer appears at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Might this become a fresh holiday staple? 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 a star of Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative develops as the stingy Mr Sood is visited by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George. This Indian Scrooge is at least different from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s acting is flat—a problem when he’s so the main character. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 Lunchtime: Stuffed There’s time for a network's Christmas comedy-drama—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 (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a vacation to Lapland. There’s just one problem—he finds out there was an mix-up 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. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 A Classy Netflix Romance This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the setting—Christmas is the scene 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 country estate to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she encounters a man in a literary haven who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light. A commentator recently claimed this is the best new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the required cozy feelings. The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is notable too. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, regardless of the persuasion of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise. The answer is to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities. It’s low-key but charming, and ideal viewing while expecting Santa to visit. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun. Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a quarrelling American family who come back together for the holidays—including fellow 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 unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.” So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually takes center stage. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 Formulaic Fun The day’s taken a dip, but fortunately here’s a new offering in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—holiday fare. It’s a narrative as old as time: An American woman travels to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance. In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher