🔗 Share this article Marathon Viewing This Year's Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures. ‘Tis the season to lounge on the couch and demolish a box of mince pies in front of a terrific flick, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful. As always, a crop of fresh Christmas films aims to become part of our holiday traditions—potentially even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments). Thus, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to find the festive feeling, I watched as many recent holiday releases as possible in a single day. 7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie Starting, hopefully, on a high. This film is the exclusive 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the top 100 festive features of all time. The popular band are trapped in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are hindered by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “find their sibling bond.” The banter between the squabbling siblings is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while followers will certainly notice lots of references as they endeavor 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 superb for devotees and a solid start to the day. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who must sit through it. Next: A Star in Panto A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity cast a pantomime. “A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and aging action hero Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose representative has tricked him into thinking he’s performing in renowned British drama. His Aladdin fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. It's easy to predict their response. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response. There are some hilarious moments, some touching side stories, and the rest of the cast is brilliant, too. It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄 A New Spin on Scrooge Danny Dyer appears at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Might this become a new Christmas tradition? This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is confronted by the apparitions 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 regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is flat—a problem when he’s so central to everything. Festive score: 🎄🎄 12.04pm - Stuffed There’s time for a network's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.” But after he receives an large festive windfall at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a holiday to Lapland. There’s just one snag—he finds out there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to pay back the excess. Enjoyable but forgettable. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 A Classy Netflix Romance This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the background—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same. High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to do a deal for a champagne business. On the way, she runs into a fellow in a literary haven who offers to show her Christmas in Paris. A critic recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary cozy feelings. The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is very good too. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 A Charming Quest Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, despite the efforts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the truth. The secret is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a panel of well-known experts and celebrities. It’s low-key but charming, and ideal viewing while anticipating Santa to visit. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄 4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun. Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a dysfunctional American family who come back together for the holidays—including fellow 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 unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.” So that’s the concept, but in reality it’s really a combination of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food. It’s a story as old as time: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up discovering romance. In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
‘Tis the season to lounge on the couch and demolish a box of mince pies in front of a terrific flick, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful. As always, a crop of fresh Christmas films aims to become part of our holiday traditions—potentially even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments). Thus, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to find the festive feeling, I watched as many recent holiday releases as possible in a single day. 7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie Starting, hopefully, on a high. This film is the exclusive 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the top 100 festive features of all time. The popular band are trapped in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are hindered by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “find their sibling bond.” The banter between the squabbling siblings is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while followers will certainly notice lots of references as they endeavor 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 superb for devotees and a solid start to the day. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who must sit through it. Next: A Star in Panto A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity cast a pantomime. “A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and aging action hero Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose representative has tricked him into thinking he’s performing in renowned British drama. His Aladdin fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. It's easy to predict their response. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response. There are some hilarious moments, some touching side stories, and the rest of the cast is brilliant, too. It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄 A New Spin on Scrooge Danny Dyer appears at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Might this become a new Christmas tradition? This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is confronted by the apparitions 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 regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is flat—a problem when he’s so central to everything. Festive score: 🎄🎄 12.04pm - Stuffed There’s time for a network's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.” But after he receives an large festive windfall at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a holiday to Lapland. There’s just one snag—he finds out there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to pay back the excess. Enjoyable but forgettable. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 A Classy Netflix Romance This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the background—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same. High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to do a deal for a champagne business. On the way, she runs into a fellow in a literary haven who offers to show her Christmas in Paris. A critic recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary cozy feelings. The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is very good too. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 A Charming Quest Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, despite the efforts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the truth. The secret is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a panel of well-known experts and celebrities. It’s low-key but charming, and ideal viewing while anticipating Santa to visit. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄 4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun. Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a dysfunctional American family who come back together for the holidays—including fellow 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 unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.” So that’s the concept, but in reality it’s really a combination of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food. It’s a story as old as time: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up discovering romance. In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher