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

‘Tis the season to lounge on the sofa and consume a packet of mince pies in front of a terrific flick, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

As always, a selection of new seasonal stories hopes to be part of our festive viewing—perhaps even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

So, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to get into the Christmas spirit, I watched as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Beginning, ideally, on a high. This film is the sole 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The popular band find themselves stuck in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their attempts are hindered by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.”

The back-and-forth between the squabbling siblings is entertaining even for the non-fan, while followers will no doubt notice lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who will have to sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity cast a "panto".

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

His Aladdin co-stars tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. One can imagine their reply. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some great jokes, some touching storylines, and the rest of the cast is brilliant, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

A familiar face appears at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the second film in a row. Could this be a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who encounters Mr Sood, the modern take 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 past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

Before lunch for a major broadcaster's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) persuades him spending the sum on a holiday to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—he discovers there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to reimburse the difference.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

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 environment of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a country estate to do a deal for a champagne business. During her travels, she meets a guy in a book store who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

An expert recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the obligatory cozy feelings.

The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is particularly strong too.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, despite the persuasion of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

The secret is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the assistance of a panel of well-known figures.

It’s gentle but endearing, and perfect viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a dysfunctional American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer begins by referencing 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 concept, but in execution it’s really a jumble of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally comes into her own.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the packed genre of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a story as old as time: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher