Binge-Watching The Latest Christmas Films: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.
It is the time of year to slob out on the couch and consume a packet of festive treats in front of a terrific flick, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.
As always, a batch of new seasonal stories strives to join part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even finding a spot alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).
Therefore, in a helpful attempt to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to find the Christmas spirit, I binged as many fresh festive movies as possible in a single day.
7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Kicking off, optimistically, on a high. This is the sole 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time.
The musical trio are trapped in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their sibling bond.”
The banter between the arguing trio is entertaining even for the non-fan, while fans will certainly catch lots of easter eggs as they endeavor to get back using every mode of travel possible.
It’s a journey of epic proportions.
It’s not legendary, but is superb for fans and a positive start to the day.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who will have to sit through it.
8.45am - Tinsel Town
Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a Hollywood star roped into a traditional British stage show.
“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older lead Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre.
His pantomime fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. It's easy to predict their response. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.
There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming side stories, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.
It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
10.19am - Christmas Karma
A familiar face pops up at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Might this become a fresh holiday staple?
This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who collects Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 tight-fisted Mr Sood is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.
This South Asian reinterpretation is at least unique from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
Lunchtime: Stuffed
There's just enough time for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “avoids Christmas.”
But after he gets an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) convinces him spending the sum on a vacation to Lapland.
There’s just one issue—he finds out there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to reimburse the excess.
Pleasant yet unmemorable.
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 environment of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.
Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she encounters a man in a bookshop who promises to show her a festive Paris.
A critic recently declared this is the top new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the required warm and fuzzy feels.
The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is notable too.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas
Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, despite the persuasion of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.
The secret is out there, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the assistance of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.
It’s gentle but endearing, and ideal viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a quarrelling American family who come back together for the holidays—including other acclaimed actress 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 saying: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s what this is, but in execution it’s really a mash-up of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally finds her strength.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—seasonal comfort food.
It’s a narrative as old as time: An American woman goes on a quest to a far-off wintery locale and ends up finding romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
