Marathon Viewing The Latest Christmas Films: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the season to relax on the sofa and consume a packet of mince pies in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.

Once again, a crop of latest seasonal stories hopes to be part of our festive viewing—perhaps even joining the ranks alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Therefore, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the holiday mood, I marathoned as many fresh festive movies as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, optimistically, on a positive note. This is the exclusive 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The Jonas Brothers find themselves trapped in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must return for Christmas. Their efforts are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is entertaining even for the non-fan, while fans will certainly notice lots of references 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 superb for fans and a positive start to the day.

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

8.45am - Tinsel Town

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

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

His pantomime cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he protests. You can guess 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 excellent, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

A familiar face shows up at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Might this become a new Christmas tradition?

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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story progresses as the tight-fisted 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 distinct from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s acting is flat—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There’s time for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “avoids Christmas.”

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

There’s just one problem—he learns there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to pay back the excess.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

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

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. On the way, she encounters a guy in a bookshop who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

A critic 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 dash of elegance and gives the required cozy feelings.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The answer is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a panel of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s understated but endearing, and ideal viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a dysfunctional American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in practice it’s really a combination of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new entry in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food.

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher