A film I’m actually psyched to see

I am officially swearing off going to the city cinema on cheap Tuesdays. Odds are, you’re not going to get a seat, because everything fills up so fast. And the lines are insane. And you’re likely to have a breakdown halfway down the queue because the show you wanted to go to is now blinking FULL, as is the one after it and the one after it. And you will be allocated seats in the very front row, making for a very uncomfortable two hours. Instead, we’re going to the Newmarket branch instead, which is just up the road. The branch that we had planned to go to, had the car not randomly died on the street and forced us to bus to the city instead for a later screening.

But I digress. (Iron Man 2 was pretty good, by the way). Among the trailers was a teaser for Tomorrow, When the War Began!!!!!!!!!

Yes, this news deserves multiple exclamation marks. I’m totally excited for this. And, surprisingly, so is the boy. (He’s not a reader AT ALL, and this is one of the few books he’s actually finished.)

For those who don’t know what I’m on about, Tomorrow is the first of a seven-book series. It was originally meant to be a trilogy – and you can tell; the third is so long and jam packed with action, it had me tensed up from start to finish – then the next four books kind of drift downhill. In it, John Marsden tells the story of a group of teenagers who go out camping (I think? Don’t quote me on that) and while they’re out in the bush, some unnamed enemy invades their country. It takes all their wits and resources to stay on the run and elude capture, and even more so when they get all guerilla soldier like and start fighting back. It’s not the most realistic of plots, but I tell you, these books were a bloody good read back in the day.

Who is John Marsden, you ask? He was (is?) an Australian author who wrote a lot of young adult fiction. Personally, I think Marden’s best work was Letters from the Inside – a tale of two penpals, one of whomturns out not to be quite who she says she is. It ends on the most heartwrenching, cliffhangerly note. I’ve never forgotten it.

Anyway. Australian accents aside, this should be a ripper! I can’t wait. According to IMDB, it’s due out in September and stars that achingly beautiful girl who played Wendy in Peter Pan.