Devouring This Year's Holiday Movies: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the season to slob out on the couch and consume a box of mince pies in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

Once again, a selection of new holiday movies aims to become part of our holiday traditions—maybe even joining the ranks alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

Therefore, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the Christmas spirit, I binged as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, optimistically, on a high. This film is the sole 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the best 100 festive features of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are trapped in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their efforts are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The back-and-forth between the squabbling siblings is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while fans will undoubtedly notice lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not legendary, but is great for devotees and a solid start to the day.

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor cast a "panto".

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose manager has deceived him into thinking he’s starring in high-class London stage.

His pantomime cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. It's easy to predict their retort. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some very funny lines, some touching storylines, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

An actor shows up at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who collects Mr Sood, the modern take 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 familiar story develops as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is visited by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least distinct from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There's just enough time for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he receives an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) talks him into splurging the cash on a family trip to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—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.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the setting—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. En route, she encounters a guy in a literary haven who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A commentator recently declared this is the top new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a holiday love story with a hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, in spite of the efforts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

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

It’s low-key but charming, and good viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a quarrelling 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 opens by name-dropping 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 what this is, but in reality it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as well-worn: An American woman journeys to a far-off wintery locale and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher