Marathon Viewing The Latest Holiday Movies: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the season to relax on the sofa and devour a tin of festive treats in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s awesomely awful.

As always, a batch of latest Christmas films strives to join part of our holiday traditions—potentially even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a noble effort to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I marathoned as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

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

The popular band are trapped in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “rekindle their sibling bond.”

The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while followers will undoubtedly notice lots of easter eggs as they endeavor to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is excellent for fans and a good start to the day.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who will have to sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity cast a traditional British stage show.

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin cast-mates let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their response. Except if you’re ignorant of traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some hilarious moments, some heartwarming sub-plots, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer shows up 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 singing black cab driver who encounters Mr Sood, the modern take 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is visited by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least unique 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.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

Before lunch for a network's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he gets an large festive windfall at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a vacation to Lapland.

There’s just one problem—he finds out there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to return the excess.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she meets a man in a book store who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A commentator recently declared this is the finest new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a festive dalliance with a hint of sophistication and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, in spite of the efforts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

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

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a dysfunctional American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping holiday staples like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new addition in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—holiday fare.

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher