Binge-Watching This Year's Holiday Movies: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.
It is the time of year to slob out on the sofa and consume a packet of mince pies in front of a terrific flick, a bad movie, or one that’s awesomely awful.
This year, a batch of fresh holiday movies hopes to be part of our festive viewing—potentially even finding a spot alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).
So, in a helpful attempt to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to embrace the festive feeling, I marathoned as many recent holiday releases as possible in a single day.
7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Beginning, ideally, on a good foot. This release is the sole 2025 movie on a popular review site's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.
The Jonas Brothers find themselves trapped in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their sibling bond.”
The repartee between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the casual viewer, while devotees will undoubtedly notice lots of in-jokes as they endeavor 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 superb for devotees and a good start to the day.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who are obliged to sit through it.
Next: A Star in Panto
Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor cast a traditional British stage show.
“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and older action hero Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose representative has deceived him into thinking he’s performing in high-class London stage.
His Aladdin fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their reply. Except if you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.
There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming side stories, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too.
It’s the type of film that would be a bit tacky at any other time of year, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
A New Spin on Scrooge
Danny Dyer appears at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second consecutive movie. Is this a fresh holiday staple?
This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is visited by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.
This Indian Scrooge is at least different from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so central to everything.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
12.04pm - Stuffed
There's just enough time for a channel's holiday special—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 (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) convinces him spending the sum on a holiday 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.
Enjoyable but forgettable.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems
This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.
Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. En route, she runs into a guy in a bookshop who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.
A commentator recently declared this is the finest new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a Christmas romance with a hint of sophistication and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.
The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is particularly strong too.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas
Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, regardless of the attempts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the reality.
The secret is out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities.
It’s understated but sweet, and good viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a bickering American family who come back together for the holidays—including other acclaimed actress 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 true heroes of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s the premise, but in practice it’s really a jumble of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last comes into her own.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—seasonal comfort food.
It’s a narrative as familiar as can be: An American woman goes on a quest to a picturesque cold country and ends up finding romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher