Devouring This Year's Holiday Movies: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

‘Tis the season to relax on the couch and demolish a tin of festive treats in front of a good movie, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

Once again, a batch of fresh seasonal stories strives to join part of our festive viewing—perhaps even joining the ranks alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

Thus, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the festive feeling, I binged as many recent holiday releases as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, optimistically, on a positive note. This release is the sole 2025 movie on a popular review site's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time.

The musical trio find themselves trapped in the UK after finishing their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”

The banter between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the uninitiated, while followers will undoubtedly pick up on lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not legendary, but is excellent for fans and a good start to the day.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who must sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a movie actor tricked into a traditional British stage show.

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

His Aladdin cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. You can guess their reply. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some great jokes, some touching storylines, and the ensemble is brilliant, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at any other time of year, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

A familiar face pops up at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Might this become a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who collects 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 stingy Mr Sood is visited by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least different from all the others, but sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

Before lunch for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he gets an large festive windfall at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) convinces him splurging the cash on a family trip to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—he learns there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to reimburse the difference.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

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 scene of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she runs into a man in a book store who promises to show her a festive Paris.

A commentator recently claimed this is the best new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a touch of class and gives the required warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is notable too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

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

The truth is to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the assistance of a group of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s gentle but charming, and perfect viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

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

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping 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 at last comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s waned in quality, but happily here’s a new offering in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.

It’s a tale as old as time: An American woman travels to a far-off wintery locale and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher