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

It is the season to lounge on the sofa and devour a packet of mince pies in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

As always, a crop of new Christmas films hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—potentially even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

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

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Kicking off, ideally, on a positive note. This release is the exclusive 2025 title on a popular review site's list of the best 100 holiday films of all time.

The musical trio find themselves trapped in the UK after finishing their global concert series and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The repartee between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while followers will no doubt catch lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

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

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

Next: A Star in Panto

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor roped into a pantomime.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose manager has misled him into thinking he’s performing in renowned British drama.

His pantomime cast-mates let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. One can imagine their retort. Except if you’re not acquainted with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some great jokes, some heartwarming sub-plots, and the ensemble is excellent, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit tacky at any other time of year, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

A familiar face pops up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Is this a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who collects Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story progresses as the miserly 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 unique from all the others, but sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There's just enough 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 is awarded an large festive windfall at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a vacation to Lapland.

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

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a French chateau to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. On the way, she runs into a guy in a literary haven who offers to show her Christmas in Paris.

A critic recently declared this is the top new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a Christmas romance with a hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

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

It’s gentle but sweet, and perfect viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a bickering American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress 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 unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in practice it’s really a combination of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new entry in the saturated market of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

It’s a tale as familiar as can be: An American woman goes on a quest to a picturesque cold country and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher