Marathon Viewing 2025's Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

‘Tis the season to slob out on the couch and consume a packet of festive treats in front of a good movie, a bad movie, or one that’s awesomely awful.

Once again, a batch of new Christmas films aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a helpful attempt to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to get into the festive feeling, I marathoned as many fresh festive movies as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Kicking off, optimistically, on a positive note. This release is the exclusive 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The musical trio find themselves stranded in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”

The banter between the arguing trio is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while followers will certainly notice lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who are obliged to sit through it.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland stars as a Hollywood star tricked into a "panto".

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s appearing in high-class London stage.

His Aladdin fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. It's easy to predict their retort. Unless you’re not acquainted with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some great jokes, some cockle-warming side stories, and the ensemble is excellent, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit cheesy at any other time of year, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer appears at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Is this a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up Mr Sood, the modern take 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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale unfolds as the miserly Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least distinct from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a major flaw when he’s so central to everything.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There’s time for a major broadcaster's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he gets an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) talks him into splurging the cash on a holiday to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—he discovers 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: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the setting—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its main point—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. During her travels, she runs into a guy in a bookshop who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A critic recently stated this is the top new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, regardless of the persuasion of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

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

It’s understated but charming, and ideal viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a bickering American family who come back together 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 unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in execution it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new addition in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.

It’s a story as old as time: An American woman travels to a far-off wintery locale and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher