Marathon Viewing This Year's Christmas Films: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

It is the season to slob out on the sofa and devour a tin of festive treats in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

This year, a selection of new Christmas films strives to join part of our festive viewing—potentially even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a vital public service to separate the winners from the losers, and to embrace the festive feeling, I marathoned as many fresh festive movies as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

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

The Jonas Brothers end up trapped in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who sings to announce they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the non-fan, while fans will no doubt catch lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

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

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

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity cast a pantomime.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and older star Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s performing in high-class London stage.

His pantomime fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he protests. One can imagine their retort. Except if you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some hilarious moments, some touching side stories, and the ensemble is cracking, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

Danny Dyer pops up at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Might this become a budding festive ritual?

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 an actor from Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is confronted by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least distinct from all the others, but sadly he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s acting is lifeless—a problem when he’s so the main character.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There’s time for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “avoids Christmas.”

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

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

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

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

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a French chateau to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she encounters a fellow in a bookshop who offers to show her a festive Paris.

An expert recently claimed this is the top new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a festive dalliance with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, despite the efforts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

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

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a dysfunctional American family who gather for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer starts by mentioning 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 real champions of the holidays—moms.”

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—holiday fare.

It’s a story as well-worn: An American woman journeys to a far-off wintery locale and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher