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

It is the season to relax on the couch and devour a packet of mince pies in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

This year, a batch of new Christmas films hopes to be part of our holiday traditions—maybe even earning a place alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Therefore, in a noble effort to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I marathoned as many new Christmas films as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Kicking off, hopefully, on a good foot. This release is the sole 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are trapped in the UK after finishing their international trek and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “find their sibling bond.”

The repartee between the arguing trio is amusing even for the non-fan, while fans will undoubtedly pick up on lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

It’s not an all-time classic, but is superb for devotees and a good start to the day.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who must sit through it.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland stars as a movie actor tricked into a traditional British stage show.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and aging star Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s appearing in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he protests. One can imagine their retort. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some hilarious moments, some touching side stories, and the ensemble is brilliant, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit naff at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor shows up at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Is this a new Christmas tradition?

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 an actor from Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, 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 captivating and Nayyar’s acting is flat—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There’s time for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he receives an large festive windfall at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money on a vacation to Lapland.

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

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

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

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a country estate to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. On the way, she meets a fellow in a bookshop who vows to show her a festive Paris.

A commentator recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a holiday love story with a hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

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

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a bickering American family who gather for the holidays—including other acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer begins by referencing Christmas classics 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 reality it’s really a mash-up of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new addition in the packed genre of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a story as familiar as can be: An American woman goes on a quest to a far-off wintery locale and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher