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

‘Tis the time of year to slob out on the couch and devour a box of festive treats in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

This year, a crop of new holiday movies hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—perhaps even joining the ranks alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

So, in a helpful attempt to separate the winners from the losers, and to find the Christmas spirit, I binged as many recent Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, ideally, on a high. This release is the only 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time.

The musical trio find themselves stranded in the UK after wrapping up their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “find their familial spark.”

The banter between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the non-fan, while devotees will certainly pick up on lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who will have to sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland appears as a celebrity roped into a traditional British stage show.

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and older lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he protests. You can guess their retort. Except if you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some great jokes, some heartwarming sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is excellent, too.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor appears at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Is this a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who picks up Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 director of Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale develops as the miserly Mr Sood is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but sadly he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

Before lunch for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he gets an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) persuades him splurging the cash on a holiday to Lapland.

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

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she meets a guy in a bookshop who promises to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A critic recently stated this is the best 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 obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, in spite of the efforts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the truth.

The secret is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the assistance of a team of well-known figures.

It’s gentle but charming, and ideal viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

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

Pfeiffer begins by referencing 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 the concept, but in execution it’s really a mash-up of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s taken a dip, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the packed genre of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

It’s a tale as familiar as can be: An American woman travels to a distant snowy land and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher