🔗 Share this article Binge-Watching This Year's Festive Features: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good. It is the season to lounge on the couch and devour a packet of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good. This year, 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 (no arguments). Thus, in a noble effort to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the festive feeling, I binged as many new Christmas films as possible in a single day. First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick Beginning, hopefully, on a positive note. This is the exclusive 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the best 100 holiday films of all time. The musical trio find themselves stuck in the UK after concluding their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an evil Santa, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.” The banter between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the non-fan, while devotees will certainly catch lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using all transportation available. It’s a journey of epic proportions. It’s not an all-time classic, but is superb for fans and a good start to the day. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who are obliged to sit through it. 8.45am - Tinsel Town Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor roped into a pantomime. “A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre. His pantomime fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. You can guess their reply. Unless you’re not acquainted with traditional British theatre traditions. There are some great jokes, some cockle-warming storylines, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too. It’s the type of film that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄 Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma A familiar face pops up at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the second film in a row. Might this become a new Christmas tradition? This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who picks up Mr Sood, the modern take on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Mr Sood is played by a star of Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is confronted by the ghosts 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 compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a problem when he’s so central to everything. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 Noon: A BBC Special Before lunch for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.” But after he gets an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him spending the sum on a family trip to Lapland. There’s just one issue—he learns there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to pay back the remainder. Enjoyable but forgettable. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄 Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same. High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she encounters a man in a book store who vows to show her Christmas in Paris. An expert recently stated this is the top new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels. The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is notable too. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 A Charming Quest Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, in spite of the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality. The truth is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities. It’s low-key but charming, and good viewing while anticipating Santa to visit. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄 Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun. Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a quarrelling American family who gather for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary. Pfeiffer begins by referencing classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.” So that’s the concept, but in execution it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage. Festive score: 🎄🎄 Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—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 discovering romance. In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
It is the season to lounge on the couch and devour a packet of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good. This year, 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 (no arguments). Thus, in a noble effort to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the festive feeling, I binged as many new Christmas films as possible in a single day. First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick Beginning, hopefully, on a positive note. This is the exclusive 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the best 100 holiday films of all time. The musical trio find themselves stuck in the UK after concluding their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an evil Santa, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.” The banter between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the non-fan, while devotees will certainly catch lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using all transportation available. It’s a journey of epic proportions. It’s not an all-time classic, but is superb for fans and a good start to the day. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who are obliged to sit through it. 8.45am - Tinsel Town Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor roped into a pantomime. “A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre. His pantomime fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. You can guess their reply. Unless you’re not acquainted with traditional British theatre traditions. There are some great jokes, some cockle-warming storylines, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too. It’s the type of film that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄 Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma A familiar face pops up at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the second film in a row. Might this become a new Christmas tradition? This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who picks up Mr Sood, the modern take on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Mr Sood is played by a star of Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is confronted by the ghosts 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 compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a problem when he’s so central to everything. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 Noon: A BBC Special Before lunch for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.” But after he gets an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him spending the sum on a family trip to Lapland. There’s just one issue—he learns there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to pay back the remainder. Enjoyable but forgettable. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄 Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same. High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she encounters a man in a book store who vows to show her Christmas in Paris. An expert recently stated this is the top new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels. The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is notable too. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 A Charming Quest Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, in spite of the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality. The truth is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities. It’s low-key but charming, and good viewing while anticipating Santa to visit. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄 Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun. Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a quarrelling American family who gather for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary. Pfeiffer begins by referencing classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.” So that’s the concept, but in execution it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage. Festive score: 🎄🎄 Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—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 discovering romance. In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher