Devouring 2025's Holiday Movies: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

‘Tis the time of year to relax on the sofa and devour a packet of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

This year, a selection of latest Christmas films strives to join part of our festive viewing—maybe even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to get into the festive feeling, I binged as many fresh festive movies as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, ideally, on a positive note. This release is the sole 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 world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their efforts are hampered by an evil Santa, who breaks into song to announce they won’t get home until they “rekindle their sibling bond.”

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while devotees will undoubtedly catch lots of references as they attempt to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not legendary, but is superb for devotees and a good start to the day.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who will have to sit through it.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland stars as a movie actor roped into a "panto".

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose manager has misled him into thinking he’s performing in high-class London stage.

His pantomime cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their response. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some very funny lines, some heartwarming side stories, and the ensemble is cracking, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit naff at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

A familiar face appears at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Is this a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who encounters Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 the director of Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is visited by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least distinct from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a problem when he’s so central to everything.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

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

But after he is awarded an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him splurging the cash on a family trip to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—he learns there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to reimburse the excess.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

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

Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she encounters a man in a book store who offers to show her a festive Paris.

A critic recently claimed this is the finest new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a Christmas romance with a touch of class and gives the required warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, regardless of the attempts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the truth.

The secret is out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a panel of well-known figures.

It’s understated but sweet, 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 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 true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in reality it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last finds her strength.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.

It’s a tale as well-worn: An American woman travels to a distant snowy land and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher