New on streaming: Schwarzenegger and Attenborough provide the summer fun

No sensible streaming platform premieres its truly big stuff over the summer, but it is a good time to release some great documentaries.

On Hulu, a docuseries recounting podcasting tycoon Alex Cooper’s rise to fame is debuting. On Disney+, you can dive into David Attenborough’s Ocean, a beautiful wake-up call from the deep sea.

Obviously, if you’re not really into documentaries, you can just take it easy with the second season of FUBAR, a light-weight action comedy featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Echo Valley, a new Apple TV+ film starring Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney.

FUBAR Season 2 (Netflix)

Schwarzenegger, 77, doesn’t really appear on our screens anymore. That’s alright, we’ve seen him more than enough. But in 2023, he made an exception and starred in FUBAR for his first leading role in a scripted TV series ever.

Now, the show’s second season is premiering on Netflix. FUBAR isn’t particularly exceptional, but hey, it’s Arnold, and we’ve got to respect that by at least giving it a go.

Obviously, Schwarzenegger’s Luke Brunner is an aged CIA operative once again. This time, though, he’s also joined by Carrie-Anne Moss of the Matrix fame, who’s deliciously playing a German spy.

Ocean with David Attenborough (Disney+)

As the only premiere on Disney+ this week, this documentary certainly hits deep because Ocean intimately shows us how mercilessly we’ve been destroying the sea.

The film is full of never-before-seen footage of industrial-scale exploitation and mass coral bleaching. It’s shocking, honestly – kudos to Attenborough, now 99, for at least trying to draw the world’s attention to the issue.

“Most people picture fishing as small boats heading out from a local harbor. They’re not picturing factories at sea scraping the seabed,” said Ocean’s co-director Colin Butfield.

Call Her Alex (Hulu)

Even if you have no idea who Alexandra Cooper is, you will have probably heard of her Call Me Daddy podcast, currently the second most popular in the world with 10 million listeners per episode.

In short, Cooper is now a $100 million media phenomenon, and in a new two-part docuseries Call Her Alex, she recalls starting the podcast six years ago.

Plus, in the series, Cooper describes what she claims was three years of escalating sexual harassment by her soccer coach at Boston University, Nancy Feldman. She says the problem is systemic and ongoing, so a scandal is probably brewing.

Echo Valley (Apple TV+)

Julianne Moore is the mother, Kate, and Sydney Sweeney is the daughter, Claire, in this latest crime movie that is mellow enough but keeps the viewer guessing throughout.

We learn just how far a mother can go to save her child. Since BAFTA-winning director Michael Pearce and Emmy-nominated writer Brad Ingelsby worked on Echo Valley, it’s a safe bet that the film is an enjoyable watch.

Clown in a Cornfield (Prime Video)

Clown in a Cornfield, a horror comedy, opened in theaters on May 9th. Now, it’s finally coming to streaming.

Let’s take a look at the plot teaser. Quinn and her father move to a quiet town of Kettle Spring, discovering a fractured and bickering community that has fallen on hard times after the treasured Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down.

Naturally, a sinister, grinning figure then emerges from the cornfields to cleanse the town of its burden. We can stop here: when there’s a clown, there’s cinematic brilliance.