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

It is the season to slob out on the couch and consume a tin of holiday pastries in front of a terrific flick, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.

This year, a selection of fresh seasonal stories hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even earning a place alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

Therefore, in a noble effort to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to find the Christmas spirit, I binged as many fresh festive movies as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Beginning, hopefully, on a positive note. This release is the exclusive 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The popular band end up stranded in the UK after concluding their international trek and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”

The repartee between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while followers will undoubtedly catch lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is superb for devotees and a good start to the day.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 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 appears as a celebrity tricked into a "panto".

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and ageing lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s starring in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin cast-mates let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. It's easy to predict their retort. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some hilarious moments, some heartwarming storylines, and the supporting actors is excellent, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit naff at a different time, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

An actor shows up at the outset of this film, too, insulting someone for the second film in a row. Could this be a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who picks up Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 familiar story unfolds as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least unique from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is flat—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

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

But after he gets an large festive windfall at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money on a holiday 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 figure out how to pay back the excess.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she encounters a fellow in a bookshop who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A critic recently claimed this is the finest new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a Christmas romance with a hint of sophistication and gives the required cozy feelings.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, despite the persuasion 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 guidance of a group of well-known figures.

It’s gentle but charming, and perfect viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a bickering American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer begins by referencing classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before declaring: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the crowded field of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.

It’s a story 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