🔗 Share this article Marathon Viewing 2025's Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures. It is the season to relax on the couch and devour a box of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific. Once again, a batch of fresh Christmas films 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). Therefore, in a helpful attempt to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to get into the festive feeling, I binged as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day. First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick Starting, optimistically, on a positive note. This release is the sole 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time. The popular band end up stranded in the UK after wrapping up their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “find their sibling bond.” The repartee between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while devotees will no doubt pick up on lots of references as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary. It’s private planes, trains and automobiles. It’s not legendary, but is superb for devotees and a solid start to the day. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who are obliged to sit through it. Next: A Star in Panto A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a Hollywood star tricked into a "panto". “A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and older lead Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama. His pantomime cast-mates let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their retort. That is, unless you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases. There are some great jokes, some heartwarming side stories, and the ensemble is cracking, too. It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄 A New Spin on Scrooge An actor pops up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a new Christmas tradition? This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters Mr Sood, the newest interpretation on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Mr Sood is played by an actor from Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the director of Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative develops as the miserly Mr Sood is haunted by the ghosts 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 compelling and Nayyar’s performance is lifeless—a problem when he’s so the main character. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄 Noon: A BBC Special There's just enough time for a major broadcaster's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “doesn’t really do Christmas.” But after he is awarded an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) convinces him splurging the cash on a family trip to Lapland. There’s just one problem—he learns there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to reimburse the remainder. Pleasant yet unmemorable. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄 1.12pm - Champagne Problems This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the setting—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same. Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a country estate to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she encounters a man in a bookshop who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light. A commentator recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a festive dalliance with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels. The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is very good too. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄 A Charming Quest Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, regardless of the persuasion of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise. The answer is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a group of well-known experts and celebrities. It’s understated but charming, and good viewing while waiting for Santa to visit. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun. Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a bickering American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow 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 saying: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.” So that’s the premise, but in practice it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—seasonal comfort food. It’s a narrative as well-worn: An American woman travels to a far-off wintery locale and ends up stumbling across romance. In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
It is the season to relax on the couch and devour a box of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific. Once again, a batch of fresh Christmas films 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). Therefore, in a helpful attempt to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to get into the festive feeling, I binged as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day. First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick Starting, optimistically, on a positive note. This release is the sole 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time. The popular band end up stranded in the UK after wrapping up their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “find their sibling bond.” The repartee between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while devotees will no doubt pick up on lots of references as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary. It’s private planes, trains and automobiles. It’s not legendary, but is superb for devotees and a solid start to the day. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who are obliged to sit through it. Next: A Star in Panto A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a Hollywood star tricked into a "panto". “A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and older lead Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama. His pantomime cast-mates let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their retort. That is, unless you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases. There are some great jokes, some heartwarming side stories, and the ensemble is cracking, too. It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄 A New Spin on Scrooge An actor pops up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a new Christmas tradition? This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters Mr Sood, the newest interpretation on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Mr Sood is played by an actor from Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the director of Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative develops as the miserly Mr Sood is haunted by the ghosts 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 compelling and Nayyar’s performance is lifeless—a problem when he’s so the main character. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄 Noon: A BBC Special There's just enough time for a major broadcaster's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “doesn’t really do Christmas.” But after he is awarded an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) convinces him splurging the cash on a family trip to Lapland. There’s just one problem—he learns there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to reimburse the remainder. Pleasant yet unmemorable. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄 1.12pm - Champagne Problems This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the setting—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same. Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a country estate to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she encounters a man in a bookshop who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light. A commentator recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a festive dalliance with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels. The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is very good too. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄 A Charming Quest Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, regardless of the persuasion of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise. The answer is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a group of well-known experts and celebrities. It’s understated but charming, and good viewing while waiting for Santa to visit. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun. Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a bickering American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow 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 saying: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.” So that’s the premise, but in practice it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—seasonal comfort food. It’s a narrative as well-worn: An American woman travels to a far-off wintery locale and ends up stumbling across romance. In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher