Binge-Watching The Latest Christmas Films: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

‘Tis the season to lounge on the couch and devour a packet of festive treats in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

As always, a selection of latest seasonal stories strives to join part of our holiday traditions—maybe even finding a spot alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the holiday mood, I binged as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Starting, optimistically, on a good foot. This release is the exclusive 2025 entry on a famous website's list of the best 100 festive features of all time.

The Jonas Brothers find themselves stranded in the UK after wrapping up their global concert series and must return for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their sibling bond.”

The repartee between the arguing trio is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while followers will certainly notice lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

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

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor tricked into a "panto".

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he insists angrily. It's easy to predict their retort. Except if you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some very funny lines, some touching storylines, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at another season, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer pops up at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Could this be a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least distinct from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There's just enough time for a network's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he gets an large festive windfall at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) talks him into spending the sum on a vacation to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—he discovers there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to reimburse the difference.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the background—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 do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she encounters a fellow in a bookshop who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

An expert recently declared this is the top new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The answer is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known experts and celebrities.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a bickering American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress 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 real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a jumble of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new addition in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—holiday fare.

It’s a narrative as old as time: An American woman travels to a picturesque cold country and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher