GFM’s Favorite Television and Film from 2025

We asked our team of staff writers and contributing correspondents which movies and television programs stood out to them in 2025. Below are some of their answers.

Craig Nash, Senior Editor

Adolescence (Netflix)

Most commentary on the “problem with boys” or the prevalence of “male loneliness” either infantilizes boys and men or turns them into monsters. The 2025 Netflix drama Adolescence refuses to fall into either trap. Even if it had tried, the stunning debut performance of Owen Cooper as the 13-year-old murder suspect Jamie Miller would have pulled it out of the abyss.

This four-episode limited series is notable for its depth of talent (five of its actors were nominated for Emmy Awards; three won) and the technical feat of filming each episode in a single take. But its enduring legacy will be its commentary on how the invisible hand of patriarchy is resisting all attempts to dismantle it.

The Last of Us (HBO Max)

It was nearly impossible for anyone on social media to avoid the gut-wrenching spoiler from the second episode of season two of The Last of Us. I couldn’t, so I knew what was coming. Even so, that epic hour of television was the hinge that revealed the story’s theme and pressing question: When deep love meets trauma and ancient levels of violence, is there an escape from the never-ending cycle of retribution?

Nothing on the surface of this series makes it something I would normally consider watching. It’s a post-apocalyptic, quasi-zombie show based on a video game, for crying out loud. But the performances of Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey overcome all those obstacles for me and have made it one of the few new shows I’m able to stick with—and one I eagerly anticipate each new season.

Cliff Vaughn, Senior Media Producer, Good Faith Media

Death by Lightning (Netflix)

The opening title card of this four-episode historical drama reads: “This is the true story about two men the world forgot. One was the 20th president of the United States. The other shot him.”

The former was James A. Garfield; the latter was Charles Guiteau. The series is based on the 2011 book Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard (who holds a master’s degree from Baylor University). The slick production features Michael Shannon as Garfield and Matthew Macfadyen as Guiteau, with a wonderful supporting cast that includes Nick Offerman as Chester A. Arthur, Betty Gilpin as Lucretia Garfield, Bradley Whitford as James G. Blaine, and Shea Whigham as Roscoe Conkling.

Garfield is cast as a sort of Renaissance man who doesn’t seek fame and glory, but who will serve sincerely when called. Guiteau is portrayed as a mentally ill opportunist whose sad life is amplified by an American dream just beyond his reach.

Death by Lightning, in addition to keeping me on the hook for its next episodes, sent me scrambling for more information on Garfield, whose presidency lasted roughly half a year. To what degree was the actual man as decent as portrayed? And more to the point: How has our republic so rotted that we seem so far away from such decency again in the White House?

Cally Chisholm, Creative Coordinator

Eternity (A24)

From director David Frayne, A24’s Eternity sits at the top of my favorites list this year. This fantastical romantic comedy stars Elizabeth Olsen as Joan, an old woman who dies of cancer and wakes up young again in the afterlife waiting room called “The Junction.”

In this world, souls are given a week to pick their ideal eternal resting place. There are eternities for every religion to ever exist, as well as “Man-Free World,” “Queer World,” “Paris World,” “Beach World,” and many more. Choose wisely, because once you pick an eternity, it is nearly impossible to go back and change your mind.

This decision is made even more impossible for Joan when she is forced to choose between spending eternity with her first husband or her second husband.

Miles Teller plays Larry, Joan’s charming and loyal husband of 50-plus years. Callum Turner plays Luke, her first love, who died in a war and found a way to stay in The Junction for six decades so that he could find her in the afterlife. This vibrant film also stars Academy Award winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Anna, their afterlife coordinator.

Stephanie Brueggeman, Data and Sales Manager

North of North (Netflix)

North of North is a refreshing comedy set in a small Arctic community, where everyone knows your business and privacy is more of a concept than a reality.

The series follows Siaja, a young Inuk mother who finds herself starting over after a very public breakup. As she navigates single parenthood, a new job, and the complicated dynamics of her hometown, the show quietly explores what it means to redefine yourself when your community already has expectations about who you are supposed to be.

What makes North of North stand out is how effortlessly it blends humor with authenticity. Rather than treating its northern setting as a novelty, the show presents it as lived-in and ordinary—a place full of gossip, family tension, support and love.

The comedy is dry and character-driven, often coming from small moments instead of punchlines, which gives the series a grounded, intimate feel.

Most importantly, the show centers Indigenous voices both in front of and behind the camera. It tells an Inuit story without translating itself for outsiders, allowing culture, language, and community rhythms to exist naturally. North of North feels different because it isn’t trying to explain itself—it’s simply inviting viewers to listen, laugh, and connect.

Starlette Thomas, Associate Editor and Director of the Raceless Gospel Initiative

Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from Starlette Thomas’ review of Sinners in the October–December issue of Good Faith Magazine.

Written, directed, and produced by Ryan Coogler, Sinners makes an unapologetic theological statement against white-body supremacy, oppression and forced assimilation. The movie of the year is an unflinching artistic critique of white evangelical Christianity and how it has drained the Black Church tradition of its prophetic life of resistance by way of purity culture and respectability politics.

Because when it comes to the agency, bodily autonomy, and self-determination of African Americans, this version of Christianity is not the way. The doors of the church are not open to deviations that do not maintain religious domination. Instead, it is part of the structural suppression of self-expression and exploration, trapping bodies in the false binary of good and evil with the string-them-along promise of a better world in “the sweet by and by” of heaven’s afterlife.

I loved every minute of the 2-hour-and-17-minute supernatural horror movie that critiques the historical imposition of Christianity on African American communities in the American South as a tool of oppression and cultural assimilation. The film highlights how Christianity was historically used to control enslaved populations, contrasting it with ancestral practices like Hoodoo, which offered alternative forms of spirituality and resistance.

Sinners challenges traditional portrayals of Christianity in horror, often depicting it as either powerless or oppressive against supernatural forces and instead elevates the power of ancestral traditions.