New Movies to Crave: Magic Mike Flaunts Its Assets, Ted Gets Raunchy, Madea Hosts Witness Protection

By Chris Kavan - 06/28/12 at 03:45 PM CT

After weeks of movie madness, finally I can take a week off (technically not true - I'm seeing Moonrise Kingdom). That's not to say this week won't impress, but at least for my taste, nothing out there looks particularly interesting to me - but for the right audience, hey, you can have your (beef) cake and eat it too.

1) The beefcake in question comes in the form of Magic Mike. In my mind I can already hear the sighs and exclamations from millions of women who will whoop, holler and swoon as Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey and Alex Pettyfer (amongst others) bare just about all in this male stripper dramedy (and probably some romance thrown in for good measure). It should be another win for Tatum, who has had a surprisingly good year at the box office. And Steven Soderbergh is coming off of both Contagion and Haywire - so after heavy drama and heavy action, it will be interesting to see how a comedy plays out. This is all dependent on how many women this film can draw. If they decide to drag their significant other along, at least Olivia Munn is on hand to somewhat counter-balance the rock hard abs on screen.

2) Men not interested in being compared to actors who can hire trainers and what not to make them look like Adonis, can instead delve into the mind of Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane as he presents his first big-screen debut in the form of Ted. That would be Mark Wahlberg's childhood teddy bear who has been brought to life by a childhood wish (also voiced by MacFarlane) and stayed with him. When his current girlfriend (the always easy-on-the-eyes Mila Kunis) decides she wants their relationship to go to the next level - well, Ted may just have something to say. MacFarlane, to many, is both a king of comedy or the worst thing to happen to comedy... ever. It all depends on how you view his brand of crude, juvenile humor. This could be a surprise hit or it could just as easily crash and burn.

3) Finally, Tyler Perry is back with yet another rendition of his most recognizable character in Madea's Witness Protection. I've said it before, and I'll say it again (and probably will say it many more times over, as Perry keeps making these films), I just don't get the appeal. And the supporting cast: Eugene Levy, Denise Richards, Doris Roberts, Tom Arnold - I don't know about you, but that's not exactly the most inspirational cast I've heard. Still, there seems to be a decent built-in audience for Perry's films, so not matter how head-scratching it may be to me, the man has a certain appeal.

I'm interested to see how Pixar's Brave holds up against a trio of films that appeal to a wide range of audiences. It still has the family audience firmly in its grasp and that may be enough for the win, but I think it won't be as dominate as last week for sure.