Binge-Watching 2025's Christmas Films: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

It is the season to slob out on the couch and devour a tin of festive treats in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

Once again, a batch of fresh seasonal stories hopes to be part of our holiday traditions—potentially even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

So, in a helpful attempt to separate the winners from the losers, and to find the Christmas spirit, I watched as many new festive movies as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, ideally, on a good foot. This release is the exclusive 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 holiday films of all time.

The popular band are stuck in the UK after concluding their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are hindered by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is entertaining even for the uninitiated, while fans 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 a timeless masterpiece, but is superb for fans and a good start to the day.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who are obliged to sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor cast a pantomime.

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and aging star Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their response. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming side stories, and the rest of the cast is excellent, too.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

Danny Dyer appears at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Could this be a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver 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 familiar story progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

Before lunch for a major broadcaster's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he gets an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) talks him into spending the sum on a holiday to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—he discovers there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to pay back the excess.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

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.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. On the way, she runs into a guy in a literary haven who promises to show her a festive Paris.

An expert 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 warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is notable too.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, regardless of the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

The secret is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a group of well-known figures.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a quarrelling American family who come back together for the holidays—including other 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 the premise, but in practice it’s really a jumble of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new offering in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a story as well-worn: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher