Binge-Watching This Year's Holiday Movies: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

It is the time of year to relax on the sofa and consume a box of festive treats in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.

Once again, a batch of new holiday movies strives to join part of our holiday traditions—potentially even finding a spot alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Therefore, in a noble effort to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the Christmas spirit, I watched as many fresh festive movies as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, optimistically, on a good foot. This film is the exclusive 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The popular band are stranded in the UK after finishing their global concert series and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “find their familial spark.”

The banter between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while fans will no doubt pick up on lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not an all-time classic, but is great for fans and a positive start to the day.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who must sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a Hollywood star cast a "panto".

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose manager has deceived him into thinking he’s performing in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. You can guess their response. Except if you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases.

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

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

An actor shows up at the outset of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the next movie straight. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator 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 the director of Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is visited by the ghosts of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s acting is flat—a problem when he’s so the main character.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

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

But after he receives 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 problem—he discovers there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to reimburse the excess.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

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

Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a French chateau to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. During her travels, she runs into a guy in a literary haven who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

An expert recently stated this is the top new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary cozy feelings.

The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is particularly strong too.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, in spite of the attempts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The answer is to be discovered, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the assistance of a panel of well-known figures.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother 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 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 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.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher