What to watch on streaming in July: Beverly Hills Cop 4, Lady in the Lake, Sausage Party, Fake and more

BEVERLY HILLS COP: AXEL F (Netflix, 3rd)

It’s been 30 years since Eddie Murphy last donned Axel Foley’s chaotic persona and if there’s a certain kind of nostalgia we’re keen to revisit, it’s one that’s evoking something from decades past, rather the fifth movie in 10 years of a franchise.

Enough time has passed to persuade us that, yes, we do want more of Murphy’s fast-talking, street-smart Detroit cop, causing havoc in palm tree-lined California. Especially as it needs to redeem itself from the goof-fest that was Beverly Hills Cop III.

LADY IN THE LAKE (Apple, 19th)

When it comes to a triumvirate of female talent, it’s hard to overlook Natalie Portman, Moses Ingram (The Queen’s Gambit) and director Alma Har’el (Honey Boy) coming together in one project.

Lady in the Lake is set in the mid-1960s in Baltimore, the intersection of two women’s lives. One, is Cleo, a mother trying to break into local politics. The other, is Maddie, a housewife trying to become an investigative reporter who becomes obsessed with Cleo’s death. All against the backdrop of a missing child case gripping the city.

FAKE (Paramount+, 4th)

You might think you have a pretty good nose for bulls**t but everyone is susceptible to being exploited by narcissistic fantasists with an incredible gift for deception.

Fake is based on journalist Stephanie Wood’s memoirs of her relationship with “Joe”, a man she met online who claimed to be a sheep grazier with two kids, an ex-wife, important business connections and, most importantly, sanity.

That wasn’t exactly the case and this drama starring Asher Keddie and David Wenham is a fascinating and chilling exploration of the lies we tell others and those we tell ourselves.

BRATS (Disney, 5th)

The Brat Pack was synonymous with eighties youth culture and 40 years on, it still evokes a time, a place and a feeling.

But not everyone liked the term, especially the young stars to which it applied, and one of them, Andrew McCarthy, set out to make a documentary about its effect on their careers and what its legacy is for them personally and in the wider zeitgeist.

His interviewees include Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, Bret Easton Ellis and David Plum, the magazine journalist who originated the term.

THE AMERICANS (7plus, 22nd)

If you’ve never seen The Americans before and didn’t want to or couldn’t pay for a streaming subscription for it, now is your chance. Every season of this superb historical spy thriller will hit 7plus this month.

It stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as two Russian operatives who are deep undercover in the US as a regular suburban family, complete with two American-born kids who have no idea of their true heritage.

But as much as it’s about espionage and what we know to be the inevitable unravelling of the Soviet Union in the 1980s, it’s about marriage, partnership, friendship and deception. And what you’re willing to do for the mission.

SUNNY (Apple, 10th)

It’s been six years since Rashida Jones was last the lead of a TV series (the under-rated and under-watched Angie Tribeca) so there is more than a curiosity factor to Sunny, a 10-episode series from creator Katie Robbins (The Affair).

Billed as a dark comedy, Sunny features Jones as an American woman living in Kyoto whose husband and son disappear in a plane crash. That’s when she learns of Sunny, a domestic robot made by her husband’s company.

An unlikely friendship forms, as does a sleuthing partnership which drives the two to discover the mystery of the crash.

SAUSAGE PARTY: FOODTOPIA (Prime, 11th)

If you wrote off and didn’t see the bawdy 2016 animated movie Sausage Party (anthropomorphic food in a supermarket), you would’ve missed out on one of that year’s genuinely piss-your-pants funny cinematic adventures.

A cartoon food orgy, literally, is not something you ever forget. This series picks up with those characters, voiced by the likes of Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Edward Norton, Michael Cera, David Krumholtz, Will Forte and Sam Richardson, who have now created a safe haven for their edible mates.

But paradise is lost when a flood destroys everything and they must team up with their most hated of enemies for survival, humans.

OMNIVORE (Apple, 19th)

Few chefs have as much global cachet as Rene Redzepi (did you spot him playing himself in the third season of The Bear?), the man behind Copenhagen sensation Noma.

The three Michelin-starred restaurant is due to morph in 2025 (seriously, good luck getting a reservation) and becoming more of a food lab. So maybe Redzepi has been looking around to see where else his prodigious skill and passion might apply, which explains this eight-part docuseries exploring the ingredients that have shaped cultures and societies, including salt, coffee, bananas and rice.

EMPEROR OF OCEAN PARK (Binge, 15th)

Starring Forest Whitaker, Henry Simmons and Grantham Coleman, the 10-episode suspense-thriller is adapted from a seminal novel by Stephen L. Carter. A potential screen version has been kicking around in various stages of development since before Carter published his book in 2001, so this has been a long time coming.

The story is about a law professor whose life is upended when his father dies, apparently of a heart attack. Especially when a former journalist claims there was more to the death, and it’s linked to a conspiracy involving the Supreme Court.

THE TWELVE S2 (Binge, 11th)

A new crime has been committed and a new jury has been empanelled. The Australian drama returns with a second season with Sam Neill the only original cast member reprising his role.

This time, he’s judging a case in Western Australia, where a landowner and prominent townsperson is found dead. Two ex-lovers stand accused. The case will reveal a lot about the community, but it’s likely, as with the first series, it’ll trigger a lot in the 12 people who have been tasked with deciding the fates of the defendants.

This season also includes Frances O’Connor Fayssal Bazzi and Tasma Walton.

TROPPO S2 (ABC, 5th)

There’s no point in setting a detective drama in Far North Queensland without a crocodile, that’s how you know it’s tropical noir. Troppo, the series starring Nicole Chamoun as a tough private eye and American actor Thomas Jane as a former cop, returns for a second season.

The unlikely onscreen pair with a cracking dynamic first tussled together on a missing persons case, and now they’ve teamed up again on another case, this time on a murder and a drug ring.

A GOOD GIRL’S GUIDE TO MURDER (Stan, 1st)

Remember Wednesday Addams’ friend at school, Enid? Now Enid has her own series. Not Enid, as such, but the actor who plays her, Emma Myers, giving her a chance to get out from under Jenna Ortega’s shadow.

The British series is based on a popular young adult novel by Holly Jackson, and it’s adapted by Poppy Cogan and directed by Dolly Wells. The main character, Pip, is a real Nancy Drew type, a schoolgirl who launches an amateur investigation into the death of a teenager, under the guise of a school project.

FAM TIME (7plus, 11th)

Both new and from the vault, Fam Time is finally getting a run. This six-episode sitcom was announced and made some years ago but has been kept on the shelf until now. In its absence, it’s gained something of a legendary reputation – will it ever be seen? Yes. Now.

It’s a family sitcom about a modern Australian family who, like many, lives so much of their lives online with carefully crafted personas. But that doesn’t spare them the drama of their offline issues. It stars Rhonda Burchmore, Michala Banas and Benson Jack Anthony.

THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE (Prime, 25th)

If we’re honest with ourselves, Guy Ritchie hasn’t made anything worth watching since 2015, but taste is, of course, subjective, so who are we to withhold any information of another instalment in the filmmaker’s continued slide into craptitude?

There are so many fans of The Gentlemen (both the terrible film and the slightly less terrible TV series) who would welcome a new Ritchie project. And we should always be optimistic that any filmmaker still has something original left in them.

This movie is set in 1941 and tells a heavily fictionalised story of the British war mission Operation Postmaster. The cast includes Henry Cavill, Henry Golding and Alan Ritchson.

THOSE ABOUT TO DIE (Prime, 19th)

For lovers of a swords-and-sandals epic, there’s no one that feels more apt in that world than Anthony Hopkins. That sonorous voice, that commanding presence.

Look, given that Those About to Die hails from disaster flick director Roland Emmerich (White House Down, Independence Day), it may not be a searing examination of the inner machinations of Ancient Roman politics, but this series set in the world of gladiatorial fights and chariot races should at least be a spectacle. Also stars Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones) and Sara Martins (Death in Paradise).

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE S2 (ABC, 25th)

OK, technically, Interview with the Vampire’s second season is not new-new. But it is the first time the season has been available on any platform that’s not AMC+, which is a good little streaming platform but a niche one that likely only those addicted to paying for as many subscriptions as possible has. Or they’re huge Lestat and Louis fans.

The series is, quietly, one of those shows that those in the know really love, a gothic and thrilling version of Anne Rice’s classic vampire story. This one stars Australian actor Sam Reid as Lestat and Game of Thrones’ Jacob Anderson as Louis.

SPIES OF TERROR (SBS, 25th)

In the days following the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris in which 130 people were murdered at public sites including the Bataclan and the Stade de France, there was a complex operation to hunt down the perpetrators and their conspirators all while the threat of further violence hung over everyone.

Based on investigative journalist Matthieu Suc’s book, this French series is told from the perspective of law enforcement.