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

‘Tis the time of year to lounge on the sofa and consume a packet of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

This year, a crop of latest seasonal stories strives to join part of our festive viewing—perhaps 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 separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the holiday mood, I watched as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

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

The musical trio end up stuck in the UK after finishing their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an evil Santa, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The banter between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while fans will certainly notice lots of in-jokes as they endeavor to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a Hollywood star roped into a "panto".

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and older action hero Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their response. Except if you’re ignorant of traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming sub-plots, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

An actor shows up at the outset of this film, too, insulting someone for the second film in a row. Is this a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who picks up Mr Sood, the newest interpretation on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Mr Sood is played by an actor from Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the director of Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative progresses as the tight-fisted 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 distinct from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

Before lunch for a channel's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) persuades him spending the sum on a vacation to Lapland.

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

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

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 main point—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she meets a guy in a literary haven who promises to show her Christmas in 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 Christmas romance with a touch of class and gives the required heartwarming sensation.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

The answer is to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the expert help of a group of well-known figures.

It’s low-key but endearing, and good viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a dysfunctional 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 what this is, but in execution it’s really a mash-up of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally finds her strength.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new entry in the packed genre of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food.

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher