Marathon Viewing The Latest Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

It is the season to relax on the sofa and demolish a box of holiday pastries in front of a terrific flick, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

Once again, a batch of new seasonal stories aims to become part of our festive viewing—potentially even finding a spot alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to get into the holiday mood, I watched as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Starting, hopefully, on a good foot. This release is the only 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the best 100 festive features of all time.

The Jonas Brothers find themselves trapped in the UK after concluding their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are hindered by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “find their familial spark.”

The back-and-forth between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the non-fan, while devotees will undoubtedly notice lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

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

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

Next: A Star in Panto

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland appears as a Hollywood star tricked into a pantomime.

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and older lead Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s performing in high-class London stage.

His Aladdin fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he protests. One can imagine their retort. That is, unless you’re not acquainted with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some great jokes, some touching sub-plots, and the supporting actors is cracking, 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: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

Danny Dyer appears at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Might this become a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who picks up Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story unfolds as the miserly Mr Sood is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least distinct from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s acting is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There's just enough time for a major broadcaster's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) talks him into spending the sum on a holiday to Lapland.

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

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. En route, she encounters a man in a bookshop who vows to show her Christmas in Paris.

A commentator recently claimed this is the finest new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the required heartwarming sensation.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old 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 truth is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the assistance of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch 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 begins by referencing classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before declaring: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in reality it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a tale 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