Binge-Watching This Year's Holiday Movies: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

It is the season to lounge on the sofa and consume a packet of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

Once again, a selection of new seasonal stories strives to join part of our holiday traditions—potentially even finding a spot alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to find the holiday mood, I watched as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Beginning, ideally, on a good foot. This release is the only 2025 title on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 festive features of all time.

The Jonas Brothers find themselves stranded in the UK after concluding their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “find their sibling bond.”

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the casual viewer, while fans will certainly pick up on lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not legendary, but is excellent for fans and a positive start to the day.

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

Next: A Star in Panto

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

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s appearing in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. It's easy to predict their reply. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some very funny lines, some touching sub-plots, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer appears at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Is this a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who collects Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops as the miserly 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 unique from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

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

But after he is awarded an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a family trip to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—he discovers there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to return the difference.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a French chateau to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she runs into a fellow in a bookshop who offers to show her a festive Paris.

An expert recently stated this is the top new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a holiday love story with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, despite the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The secret is out there, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a group of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s gentle but sweet, and perfect viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a dysfunctional 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 begins by referencing 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 reality it’s really a jumble of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally finds her strength.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a tale as familiar as can be: An American woman goes on a quest to a picturesque cold country and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher