Marathon Viewing The Latest Holiday Movies: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

‘Tis the season to lounge on the couch and devour a packet of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

Once again, a crop of latest Christmas films hopes to be part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even finding a spot alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

So, in a noble effort to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to find the festive feeling, I watched as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, optimistically, on a high. This film is the sole 2025 title on a popular review site's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The popular band are stuck in the UK after concluding their global concert series and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “rediscover their sibling bond.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while followers will certainly catch lots of easter eggs as they attempt to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who are obliged to sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

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

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has deceived him into thinking he’s performing in high-class London stage.

His pantomime fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their reply. That is, unless you’re not acquainted with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming side stories, and the supporting actors is excellent, too.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer appears at the outset 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 musical taxi operator 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 familiar story unfolds as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least unique from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

Before lunch for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (portrayed 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 devise a plan for how to reimburse the remainder.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

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 warm and holiday-like all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. During her travels, she runs into a man in a book store who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

A critic recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a holiday love story with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary cozy feelings.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The truth is to be discovered, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the assistance of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s low-key but endearing, and ideal viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a dysfunctional American family who come back together for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer starts by mentioning Christmas classics like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before declaring: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in execution it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but fortunately here’s a new offering in the packed genre of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food.

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher