Devouring This Year's Christmas Films: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

It is the season to slob out on the couch and devour a box of mince pies in front of a good movie, a bad movie, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

This year, a crop of latest Christmas films aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—potentially even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Therefore, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the holiday mood, I marathoned as many recent Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, ideally, on a good foot. This release is the exclusive 2025 title on a famous website's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The popular band are stranded in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”

The banter between the arguing trio is amusing even for the casual viewer, while devotees will certainly notice lots of easter eggs as they attempt to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, 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 will have to sit through it.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor cast a traditional British stage show.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” 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 pantomime fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. You can guess their reply. That is, unless you’re not acquainted with traditional British theatre traditions.

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

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit cheesy at another season, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

A familiar face shows up at the start of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the next movie straight. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who picks up Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 the director of Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is confronted by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but sadly he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a problem when he’s so the main character.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There's just enough time for a network's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an large festive windfall at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him splurging the cash on a holiday to Lapland.

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

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she encounters a guy in a literary haven who offers to show her Christmas in Paris.

A commentator recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the obligatory cozy feelings.

The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is very good too.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

The truth is to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a quarrelling 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 starts by mentioning classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally finds her strength.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but thankfully here’s a new entry in the packed genre of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and highly entertaining—holiday fare.

It’s a tale as well-worn: An American woman goes on a quest to a distant snowy land and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher