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

‘Tis the time of year to lounge on the sofa and demolish a packet of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

As always, a selection of fresh Christmas films strives to join part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Thus, in a vital public service to separate the winners from the losers, and to find the holiday mood, I watched as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Beginning, hopefully, on a high. This release is the exclusive 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band find themselves stuck in the UK after concluding their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.”

The banter between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the casual viewer, while devotees will certainly catch lots of references as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is superb for devotees and a solid start to the day.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who will have to sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor roped into a pantomime.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and older star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their retort. Unless you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases.

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

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit naff at any other time of year, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

An actor shows up at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Is this a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who collects Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 haunted by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least unique from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so central to everything.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There’s time for a channel's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money 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 devise a plan for how to return the excess.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she runs into a guy in a book store who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A critic recently declared 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 heartwarming sensation.

The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is very good too.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, in spite of the efforts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The truth is somewhere, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a group of well-known figures.

It’s low-key but charming, and perfect viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a bickering American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee 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 stating: “They need to make a movie about the unsung 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 finally finds her strength.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.

It’s a tale 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