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

‘Tis the season to relax on the couch and consume a box of mince pies in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

As always, a selection of fresh holiday movies aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics 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 embrace the festive feeling, I watched as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, optimistically, on a high. This release is the only 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The musical trio end up stranded in the UK after finishing their global concert series and must return for Christmas. Their endeavors are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”

The banter between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while followers will certainly notice lots of easter eggs as they try 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 fans and a positive start to the day.

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

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

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose manager has tricked him into thinking he’s starring in renowned British drama.

His pantomime cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. One can imagine their retort. That is, unless you’re not acquainted with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some great jokes, some touching side stories, and the ensemble is brilliant, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit cheesy at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

An actor appears at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who encounters Mr Sood, the modern take 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 classic narrative develops as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is haunted by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least unique from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There’s time for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.”

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

There’s just one problem—he learns there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to return the difference.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. En route, she meets a fellow in a literary haven who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

An expert recently stated this is the best new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, 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 very good too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief 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 assistance of a panel of well-known figures.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother 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 starts by mentioning 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 what this is, but in execution it’s really a combination of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last finds her strength.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new offering in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a tale as familiar as can be: An American woman journeys to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher