Binge-Watching 2025's Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.
‘Tis the time of year to slob out on the sofa and devour a tin of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s awesomely awful.
This year, a selection of latest seasonal stories aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—potentially even earning a place alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).
So, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to find the Christmas spirit, I watched as many fresh festive movies as possible in a single day.
7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Kicking off, ideally, on a good foot. This release is the only 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time.
The Jonas Brothers find themselves trapped in the UK after finishing their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are hampered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”
The back-and-forth between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while fans will undoubtedly catch lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary.
It’s a journey of epic proportions.
It’s not an all-time classic, but is excellent for devotees and a good start to the day.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who must sit through it.
Late Morning: Tinsel Town
Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland appears as a celebrity roped into a pantomime.
“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has tricked him into thinking he’s appearing in high-class London stage.
His pantomime co-stars inform him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. One can imagine their response. Except if you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases.
There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming side stories, and the rest of the cast is brilliant, too.
It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma
Danny Dyer appears at the start of this film, too, insulting someone for the next movie straight. Could this be a budding festive ritual?
This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up Mr Sood, the modern take 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 well-known tale progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is haunted by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.
This South Asian reinterpretation is at least distinct from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s acting is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
Noon: A BBC Special
Before lunch for a channel'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) talks him into splurging the cash on a family trip to Lapland.
There’s just one snag—he finds out there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to reimburse the excess.
Pleasant yet unmemorable.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
1.12pm - Champagne Problems
This is one of those holiday movies where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.
Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. On the way, she runs into a fellow in a literary haven who vows to show her Christmas in Paris.
An expert recently stated this is the best new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a touch of class and gives the obligatory cozy feelings.
The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is very good too.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas
Sixteen-year-old 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 truth.
The truth is out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.
It’s understated but endearing, and ideal viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄
A Star-Studded Family Drama
Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a bickering American family who come back together for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee 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 declaring: “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 jumble of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last finds her strength.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new addition in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—holiday fare.
It’s a narrative as well-worn: An American woman goes on a quest to a far-off wintery locale and ends up finding romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
