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

It is the season to lounge on the couch and demolish a packet of mince pies in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

As always, a selection of fresh holiday movies strives to join part of our seasonal watchlist—perhaps even joining the ranks alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

So, in a vital public service to separate the winners from the losers, and to embrace the festive feeling, I watched as many new Christmas films as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, ideally, on a good foot. This is the exclusive 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the best 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band end up stuck in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is entertaining even for the non-fan, while devotees will undoubtedly pick up on lots of in-jokes as they endeavor to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

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

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a Hollywood star roped into a traditional British stage show.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their response. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming sub-plots, and the ensemble is cracking, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor pops up at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the next movie straight. Could this be a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who collects 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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is haunted by the spirits 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 charismatic and Nayyar’s acting is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

Before lunch for a network's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) talks him into spending the sum on a holiday to Lapland.

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

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the background—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its main point—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. On the way, she encounters a fellow in a book store who promises to show her a festive Paris.

A critic recently claimed this is the best new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a touch of class and gives the required heartwarming sensation.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, despite the persuasion of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The secret is out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a group of well-known scientists and personalities.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a quarrelling American family who come back together for the holidays—including other acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping 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 real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in reality it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

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

It’s a narrative as old as time: An American woman goes on a quest to a picturesque cold country and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher