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

‘Tis the season to slob out on the sofa and consume a tin of festive treats in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

Once again, a crop of new Christmas films strives to join part of our seasonal watchlist—perhaps even earning a place alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Therefore, in a noble effort to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to get into the holiday mood, I watched as many new Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, ideally, on a good foot. This release is the exclusive 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time.

The popular band find themselves trapped in the UK after concluding their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are hindered by an evil Santa, who sings to declare they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.”

The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the casual viewer, while followers will undoubtedly notice lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who will have to sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a Hollywood star roped into a pantomime.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s starring in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their reply. Unless you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some great jokes, 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.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor pops up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Might this become 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story unfolds as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is visited 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 sadly he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is flat—a problem when he’s so central to everything.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There's just enough time for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he gets an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money on a family trip to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—he finds out there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to reimburse the remainder.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the background—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its main point—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. En route, she runs into a man in a book store who promises to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

An expert recently declared this is the top new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a hint of sophistication and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - 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 otherwise.

The secret is to be discovered, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the expert help of a panel of well-known experts and celebrities.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

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

Pfeiffer starts by mentioning Christmas classics like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before declaring: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a jumble of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s gone downhill, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.

It’s a story as old as time: An American woman journeys to a far-off wintery locale and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher