Devouring 2025's Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

‘Tis the time of year to slob out on the sofa and consume a box of festive treats in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.

As always, a batch of latest seasonal stories hopes to be part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even earning a place 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 festive feeling, I binged as many new festive movies as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Kicking off, ideally, on a high. This release is the only 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The Jonas Brothers end up stuck in the UK after concluding their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an evil Santa, who breaks into song to announce they won’t get home until they “find their familial spark.”

The repartee between the arguing trio is amusing even for the uninitiated, while devotees 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 excellent for devotees and a positive start to the day.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who must sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

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

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and aging star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s starring in high-class London stage.

His pantomime fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. You can guess their reply. Except if you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some very funny lines, some heartwarming storylines, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer appears at the start of this film, too, insulting someone for the next movie straight. Is this a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who collects Mr Sood, the modern take on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Mr Sood is played by a star of Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale unfolds as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted by the apparitions 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 unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

Before lunch for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he receives an large festive windfall at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) persuades him spending the sum on a family trip 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 pay back the excess.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its main point—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. En route, she encounters a fellow in a book store who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

A critic recently declared this is the top new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a festive dalliance with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary cozy feelings.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, regardless of the persuasion of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

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

It’s understated but sweet, and ideal viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch 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 holiday staples like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally finds her strength.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as well-worn: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher