Devouring The Latest Holiday Movies: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

It is the season to lounge on the couch and demolish a tin of holiday pastries in front of a terrific flick, a bad movie, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

As always, a selection of new seasonal stories aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even earning a place alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Thus, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to get into the holiday mood, I watched as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, hopefully, on a positive note. This release is the exclusive 2025 title on a popular review site's list of the greatest 100 holiday films of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are trapped in the UK after concluding their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to announce they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”

The banter between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the uninitiated, while followers will undoubtedly pick up on lots of easter eggs as they endeavor to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

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

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor cast a pantomime.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older action hero Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose manager has misled him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their retort. Except if you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some hilarious moments, some heartwarming side stories, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

It’s the type of film 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 pops up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Is this a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 stingy 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 distinct from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a problem when he’s so central to everything.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There's just enough time for a network's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “doesn’t really do 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 family trip to Lapland.

There’s just one problem—he discovers there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to reimburse the excess.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

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 setting of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she runs into a man in a book store who vows to show her Christmas in Paris.

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 Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the obligatory heartwarming sensation.

The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is very good too.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

The answer is out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s low-key but endearing, and good viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a bickering American family who come back together for the holidays—including fellow 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 declaring: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in execution it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food.

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher