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

It is the season to relax on the sofa and consume a packet of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.

As always, a batch of fresh seasonal stories aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even finding a spot alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Therefore, in a vital public service to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to get into the Christmas spirit, I watched as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, ideally, on a good foot. This film is the sole 2025 movie on a popular review site's list of the best 100 holiday films of all time.

The musical trio end up trapped in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the uninitiated, while devotees will certainly pick up on lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who must sit through it.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a movie actor tricked into a pantomime.

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

His Aladdin co-stars tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their reply. Except if you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some hilarious moments, some heartwarming sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit tacky at any other time of year, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor shows up at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Might this become a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters 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 the director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, 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 charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

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

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

There’s just one snag—he learns there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to pay back the difference.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

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

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a French chateau to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she meets a man in a book store who offers to show her a festive Paris.

An expert recently claimed this is the finest 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 heartwarming sensation.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, despite the persuasion of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The secret is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the assistance of a panel of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s gentle but charming, and ideal viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

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

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping Christmas classics like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in practice it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.

It’s a tale as well-worn: An American woman journeys to a picturesque cold country and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher