Marathon Viewing This Year's Festive Features: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

It is the season to relax on the couch and demolish a packet of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a bad movie, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

Once again, a crop of latest holiday movies aims to become part of our festive viewing—potentially even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

Therefore, in a vital public service to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I watched as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, ideally, on a positive note. This release is the exclusive 2025 title on a popular review site's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The musical trio end up stranded in the UK after finishing their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “find their familial spark.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while followers will certainly pick up on lots of references 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 devotees and a solid start to the day.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who will have to sit through it.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland stars as a celebrity roped into a pantomime.

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older action hero Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose manager has deceived him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. You can guess their reply. Unless you’re not acquainted with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some hilarious moments, some heartwarming side stories, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit naff at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer appears at the outset of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second consecutive movie. Might this become a new Christmas tradition?

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 The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops as the miserly Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least unique from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

Before lunch 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 is awarded an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a holiday to Lapland.

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

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the background—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a country estate to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. On the way, she meets a fellow in a book store who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

An expert recently claimed this is the top new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a hint of sophistication and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The secret is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a group of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s understated but endearing, and good viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a dysfunctional 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 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 what this is, but in execution it’s really a jumble of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new entry in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—holiday fare.

It’s a tale as familiar as can be: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher