Thinking happy thoughts when it comes to movie trailers.

Late at night, in those moments when the world has become silent again and men are free to look deep into their hearts and contemplate the mysteries of the universe, it occurs to me that when it comes to movies – and especially movie trailers – I can come across as being a bit cynical. A little smug. Okay, some might say even “bitter”.

I chewed up the trailer for Hannibal Rising. I back-handedly complimented the Transformers clip. I was downright condescending about Halle Berry’s Perfect Stranger. The trailers for The Hitcher and Wild Hogs – I was really rather unkind.

Movies are supposed to be fun. Sometimes we really need to step back, turn that analytical or logical part of our brains off and simply enjoy the ride. We need to give ourselves over to the filmmakers and be willing to trust again that if we see something we like, if it looks good and exciting and fun – we might actually end up enjoying it. That should be the joy of a well-made movie trailer.

In September last year, I speculated about the too-frequent use of the word “comeback” when referring to Kevin Costner, and I certainly won’t use that word now. But the fact is, this trailer for Mr. Brooks really looks like a bit of good, nasty fun. Costner’s certainly capable of playing this kind of dark, brooding character; he just hasn’t done it in the service of a worthwhile script in quite a while. Mr. Brooks is written by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon – the writers of Kuffs, Jungle 2 Jungle and Cutthroat Island – so, okay, maybe my praise is a little premature – but dang it, it’s a well-made trailer! It’s creepy and cool and sure, the fact that it includes Demi Moore as Tough Female Detective Who Wears Unlikely Tight Shirts sabotages the movie’s credibility somewhat, but it’s simply a good trailer! I’m trying to remain positive and open-minded here.

Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander are the screenwriters of John Cusack’s upcoming scare-flick 1408, based on a Stephen King short story. You can find the trailer here. Karaszewski and Alexander have some scribe-cred, having served as the writers of Man on the Moon, The People Vs. Larry Flynt and Ed Wood. They also wrote the 1997 version of That Darn Cat and all three Problem Child movies, so…

The 1408 trailer really doesn’t bring anything new to the genre, and in fact looks a whole lot like The Shining in a few too many ways. But The Green Mile looked a lot like Shawshank, and Mile ends up standing pretty firmly on its own once you give it a chance. I’m more willing to blame the derivative nature of this on King rather than the filmmakers, because this clip for 1408 simply feels like fun. A familiar enough set-up, the requisite creepy dead kid, the expected jump cuts and scares – but with some quick scenes and fright-shots actually looking pretty good. It’s high time that Cusack shrug off the coat of the sweet-and-soulful romantic lead that he’s been wearing too much lately, and – of course – it’s always welcome to see Samuel Mother Effin Jackson doing his thing.

Mr. Brooks hits theaters on June 1st from MGM. Dimension Films releases 1408 on July 13th.

Just for today, go think nothing but happy thoughts. You’ll thank me for it.