Devouring 2025's Festive Features: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

‘Tis the season to slob out on the sofa and devour a tin of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.

As always, a selection of new holiday movies aims to become part of our holiday traditions—potentially even joining the ranks alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I binged as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Kicking off, ideally, on a good foot. This film is the only 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the best 100 holiday films of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are stranded in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The repartee between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the casual viewer, while devotees will no doubt notice lots of references as they attempt to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

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

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

8.45am - Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a Hollywood star roped into a "panto".

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and older action hero Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s performing in high-class London stage.

His Aladdin fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their retort. Except if you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is excellent, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit tacky at a different time, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer appears at the start of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who picks up Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 familiar story unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is confronted by the ghosts of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is flat—a problem when he’s so central to everything.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

Before lunch for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) convinces him spending the sum on a vacation to Lapland.

There’s just one problem—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 difference.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a country estate to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she meets a man in a literary haven who vows to show her a festive Paris.

A commentator recently stated this is the best new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a holiday love story with a touch of class and gives the obligatory heartwarming sensation.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

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

The answer is out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a group of well-known figures.

It’s gentle but sweet, and ideal viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a dysfunctional American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress 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 saying: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in execution it’s really a mash-up of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new entry in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—holiday fare.

It’s a story as well-worn: An American woman travels to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher