🔗 Share this article Binge-Watching 2025's Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures. It is the time of year to lounge on the sofa and consume a tin of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good. This year, a selection of new seasonal stories aims to become part of our holiday traditions—maybe even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments). Thus, in a helpful attempt to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to get into the Christmas spirit, I binged as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day. 7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie Starting, ideally, on a positive note. This is the exclusive 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 festive features of all time. The popular band are stuck in the UK after concluding their international trek and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their sibling bond.” The banter between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while devotees will certainly notice lots of references as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible. It’s private planes, trains and automobiles. It’s not an all-time classic, but is great for fans and a positive start to the day. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who will have to sit through it. Late Morning: Tinsel Town Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a Hollywood star roped into a "panto". “A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and ageing action hero Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose manager has tricked him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre. His Aladdin fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. You can guess their response. 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 sort of feature that would be a bit tacky at any other time of year, but is a great entertainment at Christmas. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄 10.19am - Christmas Karma Danny Dyer pops up at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Is this a fresh holiday staple? This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who picks up Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 stingy Mr Sood is confronted by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George. This South Asian reinterpretation is at least unique from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a problem when he’s so the focal point. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄 Noon: A BBC Special There's just enough time for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “isn't big on Christmas.” But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) convinces him splurging the cash on a vacation to Lapland. There’s just one issue—he finds out there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to return the remainder. Fun while it lasts but not lasting. Festive score: 🎄🎄 Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations and snow are in the background—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels cosy and festive all the same. Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. On the way, she runs into a man in a literary haven who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light. A critic recently claimed this is the finest 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 cozy feelings. The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is particularly strong too. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄 Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, regardless of the persuasion of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the truth. The answer is somewhere, and Chris sets out to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known figures. It’s low-key but endearing, and ideal viewing while anticipating Santa to visit. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun. Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a dysfunctional American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress 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 real champions of the holidays—moms.” So that’s the concept, but in practice it’s really a jumble of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 Formulaic Fun The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new entry in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—holiday fare. It’s a story 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
It is the time of year to lounge on the sofa and consume a tin of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good. This year, a selection of new seasonal stories aims to become part of our holiday traditions—maybe even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments). Thus, in a helpful attempt to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to get into the Christmas spirit, I binged as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day. 7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie Starting, ideally, on a positive note. This is the exclusive 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 festive features of all time. The popular band are stuck in the UK after concluding their international trek and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their sibling bond.” The banter between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while devotees will certainly notice lots of references as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible. It’s private planes, trains and automobiles. It’s not an all-time classic, but is great for fans and a positive start to the day. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who will have to sit through it. Late Morning: Tinsel Town Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a Hollywood star roped into a "panto". “A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and ageing action hero Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose manager has tricked him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre. His Aladdin fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. You can guess their response. 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 sort of feature that would be a bit tacky at any other time of year, but is a great entertainment at Christmas. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄 10.19am - Christmas Karma Danny Dyer pops up at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Is this a fresh holiday staple? This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who picks up Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 stingy Mr Sood is confronted by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George. This South Asian reinterpretation is at least unique from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a problem when he’s so the focal point. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄 Noon: A BBC Special There's just enough time for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “isn't big on Christmas.” But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) convinces him splurging the cash on a vacation to Lapland. There’s just one issue—he finds out there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to return the remainder. Fun while it lasts but not lasting. Festive score: 🎄🎄 Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations and snow are in the background—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels cosy and festive all the same. Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. On the way, she runs into a man in a literary haven who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light. A critic recently claimed this is the finest 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 cozy feelings. The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is particularly strong too. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄 Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, regardless of the persuasion of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the truth. The answer is somewhere, and Chris sets out to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known figures. It’s low-key but endearing, and ideal viewing while anticipating Santa to visit. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun. Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a dysfunctional American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress 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 real champions of the holidays—moms.” So that’s the concept, but in practice it’s really a jumble of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 Formulaic Fun The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new entry in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—holiday fare. It’s a story 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