So ... what makes a good trailer? It's a topic that's certainly open to interpretation, and I'd be interested to hear what everyone else thinks, in addition to putting my own opinions out there. They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but judging a movie by its trailer, though it follows the same logic, is most definitely not as questionable a practice. In fact, I encourage it! I'll lay out what I look for, where I look for it (I mean besides in theaters, of course, where you're subject to what the projectionist plays, or rather, what the various corporate entities have required that the projectionist play) and, lastly, a quick hit list of my top 10 trailers for films coming out before the end of 2007. Onward!

When I'm judging a movie by its trailer, I first of all take stock of the actors who appear. If I'm not a big fan of any particular actor, I'm probably less likely to enjoy the film. (Sometimes I can overlook one person if the rest of the cast — and, of course, the movie's premise — are compelling enough.) Cast pedigree can be a critical consideration in choosing Fantasy Moguls movies, and many trailers advertise Oscar-nominated or Oscar-winning actors or directors to grab an audience's interest. In most cases, it works — as it should — but don't be fooled into thinking a movie looks great just because the trailer drops a few big names. ("Daddy Day Camp, starring Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding Jr." Think that would have sucked anybody in?)

Since trailers are one of the biggest factors in determining what most moviegoers will know about a given film prior to its release, you should also consider the quality of the trailer itself. Good musical choices are one thing that can make or break a trailer. Just this fall, for example, I've seen different versions of trailers for the same upcoming movie, and I'll like one version better than the other because of its music. (So much so, in one particular case, that it maneuvered a trailer onto my Top 10 list of the rest of 2007 ... more on that in a minute.) In general, I respond to trailers where the music is an integral part of the overall presentation, not just something in the background. I'm also not a big fan of trailer that use a Voiceover Guy (there are several of them, though Don LaFontaine is probably the most famous). That rumbling voice may sound great, but it's also terribly cliché. (Also, I hate it when the Voiceover Guy is just repeating stuff that's also printed on the screen. It's just annoyingly redundant to have all the text repeated audibly. Unless you're sight impaired, but if that's the case, why — or perhaps I should ask, how — are you watching a movie? I'll just stop here before I dig myself any deeper.)

Composition also determines the attractiveness of a trailer. Are viewers being shown one or two long scenes that give a sense of the movie's flavor? A quick succession of shots the supply important plot points? And what's the big finish? Most trailers have either a rapid montage of action scenes (or otherwise "big" moments that will appeal to viewers) or a "hook" line right before the title is shown. Both kinds of big finish can be good or bad. Quite often — all too often, some would say — the big finish is a lowest-common-denominator joke (someone falling down or getting hit with something, or some other lowbrow humor, to elicit a few last laughs). (Perfect recent example: Enchanted.) But in the good trailers, this little finale sequence comes off excellently. An example of a great effort there comes from the trailer for Ocean's Thirteen, where, instead of having that montage of action or a quick witty line, all we got was a shot of Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Matt Damon sitting in an airport and staring. Instead of some clever phrase, the simplicity of it was, at least to me, clever in itself.

I'm also really not very appreciative of trailers — usually of the long-lead, first-look variety also known as "teasers" — that, when all is said and done, tell you nothing about the film, keeping everything a big secret. I know it inspires us all to go home and research the film online, thereby driving up interest and building buzz, so I understand from a business perspective why you'd make a trailer that way. But basically, all these types of trailers say is "Hey, this movie's coming out. Here's when. Go find out about it yourself; we aren't going to help you." (The Dark Knight, I'm looking at you. Iron Man easily wins, as first trailers for next summer's blockbusters go.) (At least so far, with no Indiana Jones trailer until Thanksgiving.) I, and, I think, most moviegoers, would rather have an explanation, even if it's just a partial one, of what goes on in the film. Sometimes you can gather that just from what's shown, and sometimes, you need the intermittent phrases (such as I Am Legend's "the last man on Earth is not alone") on screen, and either way is fine with me (just no voiceover, please).

So with all that in mind, where are some of the top spots to find trailers online? First of all, don't forget that you can see clips and trailers from many of the films in your studio just by clicking on the title and visiting each movie's Fantasy Moguls info page. You'll also find links to reviews, news stories and other Internet content. If you must browse around outside of our hallowed HTML, however, the best and most obvious place to begin in your search for trailers is the trailer site that's probably the best-known of them all, Apple.com. There you can find a list of the most newly available trailers and browse by release date or studio. (Also in the "large and in charge" category: Yahoo! Movies.)

Apple isn't always quick to update, however, and they don't always have some of the smaller films. In cases like that, I like to visit Rotten Tomatoes, which is most famous for the Tomatometer system of rating movies "fresh" or "rotten." Having the trailer as well as reviewers' thoughts, side-by-side, can definitely help you decide whether something's worth seeing or at least worth having on your slate.

A site that's great for catching up on all the recent buzz, date changes, rumors and announcements in Hollywood, and is also very quick about getting new trailers up, is WorstPreviews. If there are a few different versions of a trailer you're looking for — a red-band, or restricted, version in addition to the typical green-band version, for example — chances are you'll find it here. This site is also quick to post any clips that are released before the movie is: the first 4 minutes of The Kingdom were just put up in the past day or so.

Video gamers can keep abreast of both movie trailers and game updates, as well as find some exclusive clips and interviews (they've got one for The Seeker up now) at IGN. Especially for video game and TV adaptations, this may be a place to find the trailer (or even just early news on, say, The X-Files 2) you're looking for.

Of course, if you're stuck, and just can't find a trailer you're looking for anywhere, even at these geysers of information, there are still two "fail-safe" options. One is to try a film's official website, where you'll almost always find any trailers or clips that have been officially released (a Google search the includes the film's title and something along the lines of "official Web site" will usually get you what you want, provided that an official site exists). You'll also be able to read more about the film, and perhaps judge by both the trailer and the official synopsis as to whether the movie will have any drawing power.

Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, you should know that the Internet Movie Database, or IMDb, has a trailer page for every movie that contains either a trailer you can watch streaming through IMDb, or links to trailers on outside sites. More often than not, it's both, so you can pick your favorite site, connection speed, and preferred media player ... or if you're really jonesing to see it right away, just click on the first one on the list. If the trailer for a film can't be found on any of the sites I've mentioned AND it's not on IMDb either, then it probably just isn't available yet.

But if it isn't available, how can you know when it will be? Well, studios will often debut new trailers for their upcoming movies with prints they send to theaters. (Lionsgate debuted the Midnight Meat Train trailer with Good Luck Chuck last weekend, and two Warner Bros. trailers, 10,000 B.C. and Get Smart, first appeared with prints of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.) Trailers go online soon after they make it into theaters, if not before (as was the case with Iron Man). Using that logic, it makes sense that Paramount would roll out an Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls trailer with Beowulf around Thanksgiving, and I also think you can expect a Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian trailer with either Enchanted or National Treasure: Book of Secrets, and a Speed Racer trailer around the time I Am Legend comes out. Another good way to find when new trailers pop up is simply to check a site like WorstPreviews maybe once a day; if they post something new, there'll be a headline about it.

Now you've been told something about what I look for in trailers, as well as where I look for them, so, before I depart for the week, let me give you a chronological list of what I think are the Top 10 trailers for films opening before the end of the year (including this weekend's releases):

The Kingdom (Sept. 28) is available in a few different versions. Version 3, which you most likely saw attached to The Bourne Ultimatum, doesn't have a song to pump you up in the middle, and so when the trailer ends, it seems to be just that: an end, not a conclusion or a finish. (Minute difference in definition, I know, but just that bit of difference is important.) Plus, it's got a voiceover. Big uh-oh. I much prefer Version 2 (the digital cinema file name was "Kingdom Trailer 2R," though I'm not sure what the R stands for ... maybe that it's rated R?) I liked Jamie Foxx in Miami Vice, and his reteaming with producer Michael Mann here (as the trailer makes sure to mention) spells good things. Mann's hand in the action is evident by the scenes that are shown, and Chris Cooper never disappoints. (Jennifer Garner makes me wary, but I really like political movies, Foxx, Mann and Cooper are all present, and Garner doesn't talk at all in the trailer ... so maybe there's not too much cause for worry.) Use of the U2 song "Bullet the Blue Sky" also adds to the effect with the pounding groove, culminating in Jamie Foxx being asked whether he understands something. The determined response: "Yes I do," a great final line, especially since the music cuts out and re-enters afterwards.

Fox Searchlight's trailer for The Darjeeling Limited (Sept. 29) also features fitting music. It's not necessarily whether or not I like the song by itself, but mostly about whether I think it fits what's being portrayed on screen, and this one definitely fits the bill. Adrien Brody and his almost perpetually sad face are certainly believable as part of a brotherly trio who's not all there. And there are a few lines throughout that are perfect examples of Wes Anderson's awkward humor, as well as some that are genuinely thought-provoking, not simply lowbrow jokes. ("How can a train be lost? It's on rails" or "I wonder if we could ever be friends, not as brothers but as people?") Eccentric is the way to describe it, but I mean that in the best terms possible.

George Clooney is the biggest reason I want to see Michael Clayton (Oct. 5). He's in full-on thriller mode, with a meatier role along the lines of Syriana or Good Night, and Good Luck as opposed to the lighter stuff of Ocean's Eleven and its sequels. (I'm certainly not complaining about that, though; Ocean's Eleven is among my all time favorites. All I'm saying is that the types of roles are clearly different.) He knows how to get it done, and the trailer proves that he's really not messing around. (I also think the poster, with the blurred picture of Clooney, is pretty cool, though it obviously has nothing to do with the trailer). Best moment: In full anger mode, Michael Clayton emphatically (and rhetorically) asks, "Do I LOOK like I'm negotiating?" The word "badass" comes to mind.

This next trailer is an example of how featuring an Academy Award nominee can pique one's interest. Without Ryan Gosling, I probably wouldn't be as interested in Lars and the Real Girl (Oct. 12). There are funny lines ("Bianca could help you, you know; she has nurse's training") to go along with the better parts, most of which are simply shots without any dialogue. (Like Lars, complete with wiry mustache and Napoleon Dynamite boots, throwing a flower and running away to avoid talking to a girl.) The heartfelt angle is played up too, with Gosling and Emily Mortimer getting emotional about whether or not everyone else in town cares about Lars. And, though it's a tiny, tiny detail that really shouldn't have much significance at all, I kind of like the all-lowercase font that's used. I'm probably reading too much into it, but I feel like that helps the simpleton aspect of the movie, both to emphasize Lars's simple character and the fact that the film isn't trying to be too heavy or serious. Not my favorite trailer on this list, but a very solid effort. The trailer accomplished its goal in making me want to see the movie, after all.

Combine the political appeal (for me anyway) of The Kingdom and the pedigree of Lars and the Real Girl, then multiply it a couple times, and you've got the big reasons I like the trailer for Rendition (Oct. 19). I respect the growth both Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon have gone through as actors, from, respectively, Bubble Boy and Legally Blonde to Brokeback Mountain and Walk the Line. There's also fellow Oscar-winner Alan Arkin, for good measure, and a healthy amount of political espionage/scandal/intrigue. And isn't that the other half of the equation in the Bourne movies' appeal (the first half being Matt Damon and shaky camera action)? Really, the biggest reason I enjoy the trailer and am looking forward to the movie is that I hadn't heard anything about it at all, then saw it in front of The Bourne Ultimatum and was floored that I hadn't taken any notice of it until then. (Or maybe because it's a considerable step up from the trailer for Death Sentence, which preceded it. Nah, we'll stick with "surprisingly good.")

I'm not really looking forward to 30 Days of Night (Oct. 19), because I'm not that big into horror, but I must admit that the trailer is done well. It establishes the horror genre quickly with a jump-out-of-your-seat window smash and scream not 10 seconds into the trailer. Music is a plus, though I'm not sure precisely what the name of the song is. The fact that it's cued in halfway through the trailer drives home the "inevitable doom" feel, especially coupled with the line "That's death approaching." The shot of blood running down a snow bank gives the impression that the movie will have great visuals, and the simultaneous arrival of 1) the music's downbeat, 2) one of the vampires' teeth, and 3) the movie's title at the end cap it off nicely.

It's been said elsewhere on the site that the trailer for American Gangster (Nov. 2) almost asks, "Academy, are you watching?" I concur. Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott are a potent combination, we've got the "based on a true story" factor, and though you'd think a Jay-Z song wouldn't fit with 1970s Harlem, it does in the trailer. I like that both sides of Washington's character are shown; the endearing family side, and the dangerous criminal side, through the view of Crowe's detective character. Mixing of terms describing both of Frank Lucas's personas — "murder, racketeering … integrity, hard work" — provide a great contrast. Interesting trivia tidbit: before Washington and Crowe were confirmed, Don Cheadle and Joaquin Phoenix were rumored. Can't lose either way, in my opinion.

When I first saw the newer (Version B) trailer for Hitman (Nov. 21), there was so much low rumbling in it that I could hear the porthole glass separating the projection booth from the theater itself rattling in place. (Now that's a powerful sound system.) Strong subwoofers in the theater make watching this trailer great, and as I've said before, for a video game adaptation, it looks decidedly not bad. Biggest surprise: I actually don't mind the  presence of Voiceover Guy on this one. Of course there's the montage of action sequences, what with fireballs exploding down hallways, Agent 47 diving across a table as the room is decimated by ammunition, and the like, and as you might expect with an action movie trailer, the cuts between shots just get quicker and quicker towards the end. Pretty generic formula for a movie trailer, I realize, but I can overlook that. What I really enjoy (and the main reason I think it's a good trailer) is the juxtaposition of "Ave Maria" as the theme music. It makes sense, since Agent 47 has divine protection and is a "necessary evil." But the contrast of what's generally a peaceful hymn with a movie about a hitman is also noteworthy, especially since the song cuts without resolving at the end, then finally does after the bullet drops. (If you couldn't tell, I like to analyze music. A lot.)

Sticking with the "lots of powerful rumbling idea," we come now to I Am Legend (Dec. 14). I'm not sure yet what I think of the movie, but I can say that the "teaser" trailer is excellent — this one's going to make a load of money come December. The teaser doesn't reveal too much about the movie, most notably, what the creatures/vampires/zombies Will Smith is fighting might look like, but it also doesn't give away so little that you'd get frustrated. I'm not quite sure why Smith sleeps in a bathtub with his dog (if he's the only guy on earth, don't you think he could find a bed? They can't all have been destroyed), but some of the shots, imagined or CGI'ed as they may be (deer running through Manhattan, Times Square being overgrown with weeds) are interesting, and there's smaller things to notice like, "Whoa, how does he keep that Mustang looking so nice if everything else is so abandoned?" and "We think WE have it bad; gas is $6 a gallon!" I can't decide if it's more sci-fi (kind of like I, Robot 2, or would that be called We, Robot?) or more horror, but I think that's the point. It tells you something, but leaves out just enough to keep you guessing.

My tenth and final vote goes to Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (Dec. 21), where John C. Reilly gets a chance to shine instead of backing up Will Ferrell, like in Talladega Nights and the upcoming Step Brothers. Most humorous to me are the appearances of Paul Rudd, Jack Black and Justin Long as members of The Beatles, and Jack White as Elvis. As we've come to expect from Judd Apatow, there are also a fair amount of one-liners. My favorite comes at the end: "My life has been blessed, from my singing, to my family, to my sausages. It's not Cox, unless I say it tastes like Cox." The people who write things like Epic Movie and Date Movie should take note — this is an example of good parody. And of course, saying it's "from the guy who brought you Talladega Nights and Superbad" is only bound to drive up attendance. This'll be the big comedy of the winter.

I'd also like to add a dishonorable mention, for a film that, in my opinion, has a terrible trailer: Saw IV (Oct. 26). And it's not because I dislike the series, it's because saying "if it's Halloween, it must be Saw" isn't a smart marketing ploy. It just implies that, no matter what, they'll crank out another Saw movie every year, even if it's crappy. (And this one looks to fit the bill.) Strike two comes from the fact that you don't actually see any footage from the movie, just footage from all the past films. The third strike: if it's that short, and doesn't actually have any new footage, why'd it take them so long to put it out? But, I suppose I can look on the bright side; now the same trailer can be used for Saw VIII a few years down the road, and all they have to change is the title and date. Great effort, guys.

And an honorable mention (for a film that doesn't open 'til 2008) goes to Vantage Point (Feb. 15), for a very intriguing trailer spanning across all the different, well, vantage points. (Dennis Quaid's iffy, but Forest Whitaker and William Hurt more than make up for that.) Throw in the political aspect — it chronicles an assassination attempt on the US President — and you can count me interested, for sure. It was moved from September to February, both generally considered "dump" months, but Breach did just fine business-wise with a February release date, and it's possible that Sony just didn't want to compete with The Kingdom in September and Rendition in October (and maybe even Lions for Lambs in November).

Whew! I'll be back next week to outline some of December's best Moguls values. Until then, good luck!

It's not Mister Informative unless he says it tastes like ... hmm. Not as good. Got something better? Send it along to misterinformative@fantasymoguls.com.