Devouring This Year's Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

‘Tis the time of year to lounge on the couch and devour a tin of festive treats in front of a terrific flick, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

Once again, a batch of latest holiday movies hopes to be part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even finding a spot alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a helpful attempt to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to find the festive feeling, I watched as many recent Christmas films as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, ideally, on a high. This film is the only 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the greatest 100 holiday films of all time.

The popular band are stranded in the UK after finishing their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.”

The back-and-forth between the arguing trio is amusing even for the casual viewer, while devotees will undoubtedly catch lots of in-jokes as they endeavor to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland stars as a Hollywood star roped into a pantomime.

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

His Aladdin cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. You can guess their reply. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming storylines, and the rest of the cast is brilliant, too.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

Danny Dyer shows up at the start of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who collects Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 the director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops as the stingy Mr Sood is visited 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 lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so the focal point.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There’s time for a major broadcaster's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

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

There’s just one snag—he finds out 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.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. On the way, she encounters a fellow in a literary haven who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

An expert recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a festive dalliance with a hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is very good too.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

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

It’s gentle but sweet, and good viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a bickering American family who come back together for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping 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 unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in reality it’s really a mash-up of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally finds her strength.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the crowded field of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.

It’s a story as old as time: An American woman journeys to a far-off wintery locale and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher