Binge-Watching 2025's Holiday Movies: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

‘Tis the season to relax on the sofa and demolish a tin of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

Once again, a batch of latest Christmas films hopes to be part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even earning a place 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 get into the festive feeling, I binged as many recent Christmas films as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, hopefully, on a high. This is the exclusive 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are stuck in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their efforts are hindered by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.”

The banter between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the casual viewer, while fans will undoubtedly notice lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using all transportation available.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is excellent for fans and a positive start to the day.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who must sit through it.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity roped into a pantomime.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older action hero Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose manager has tricked him into thinking he’s starring in renowned British drama.

His pantomime co-stars tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their response. That is, unless you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming storylines, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit tacky at a different time, but is a lot of fun 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 next movie straight. Is this a budding festive ritual?

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 the director of Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale 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 South Asian reinterpretation is at least different from all the others, but sadly he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s performance is lifeless—a problem when he’s so the main character.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

Before lunch for a channel's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him spending the sum on a vacation to Lapland.

There’s just one problem—he finds out there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to return the remainder.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

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 setting of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. En route, she encounters a guy in a book store who vows to show her a festive Paris.

A commentator recently claimed this is the finest new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a festive dalliance with a hint of sophistication and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, regardless of the efforts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The truth is somewhere, and Chris sets out to find it with the assistance of a group of well-known experts and celebrities.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

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

Pfeiffer begins by referencing holiday staples like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in practice it’s really a combination of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally comes into her own.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new entry in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a tale as familiar as can be: An American woman journeys to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher