Binge-Watching The Latest Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

‘Tis the time of year to lounge on the couch and consume a box of festive treats in front of a terrific flick, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

As always, a batch of fresh Christmas films strives to join part of our holiday traditions—maybe even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I binged as many new Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, ideally, on a good foot. This film is the only 2025 movie on a popular review site'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 return for Christmas. Their endeavors are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to declare they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is entertaining even for the non-fan, while fans will undoubtedly catch lots of references as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

It’s not an all-time classic, but is great for fans and a positive start to the day.

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor cast a pantomime.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and aging star Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose manager has deceived him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime co-stars let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their reply. Except if you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit cheesy at any other time of year, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor appears at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who collects Mr Sood, the modern take 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 classic narrative unfolds 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 sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is flat—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There’s time for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

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

There’s just one problem—he finds out there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to reimburse the remainder.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. En route, she meets a man in a book store who promises to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A critic recently stated this is the top new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory heartwarming sensation.

The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is particularly strong too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The secret is somewhere, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s understated but charming, and perfect viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother 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 classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “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 mash-up of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but happily here’s a new offering in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

It’s a tale as old as time: An American woman goes on a quest to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher