Metro's Monthly Movie Review

Each month a team member of Metro will be writing a movie review to share with you. And this month team member Merryn Schmidt has reviewed 'The Cup'. Director – Simon Wincer, Starring - Stephen Curry, Brendan Gleeson, Shaun Micallef & Daniel MacPherson.

'The Cup' is based on the true story of champion jockey Damien Oliver and his inspirational ride to win the 2002 Melbourne Cup. Damien (Stephen Curry) crosses the finish line onboard horse 'Media Puzzle', and salutes the heavens as a gesture to his older bother, Jason, who died tragically less then a week prior, in a track accident.

Unfortunately, ‘The Cup’ is not going to stop the nation as the actual race does, but it is certainly an entertaining and enjoyable flick. As the film is set in Melbourne, I appreciated the familiarity of locations such as the Yarra River and Flemington Race Course and the infusion of original photographs and film footage of the Melbourne Cup history over decades.

'The Cup' is a little slow ‘out of the gates’ and moves slowly to give an insight to the danger, the early starts, the half starving themselves, and the dedication jockeys, trainers, strappers and the like give to their careers, all so we can be enchanted by these majestic animals as the thunder down the track for our entertainment.

Released with perfect timing, during the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival, ‘The Cup’ may attract good odds, but I have to say it is not a must see on the big screen. When you do see this film be warned you will require a tissue or two.

- by Merryn Schmidt

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Spring is Nearly Upon Us!

From the desk of Leah Calnan, Director of Metro Property Management...

Before & After Pics of Reception Area

Wow so it is August and isn’t it a little warmer? And with the sun setting a little later in the day it feels like Spring is just around the corner. Spring cleaning is already happening at our office, to be exact a freshening up/renovation of our reception is starting to come together. Gone is the pink and purple carpet and we are loving our beautiful new tiles and the repositioning of the reception desk means more room for our new client couch and chairs which we will have very shortly. We have had some lovely comments so far and we will continue with carpet replacement throughout the office in the coming months.

In other news at Metro as mentioned last month myself and Samantha Taylor of our office will be attending the ARPM Conference in Sydney this month. Speakers include professionals like Fiona Blayney, Director of her own real estate business development and recruitment firms and highly sought after speaker who’s energy and passion never cease to amaze me, Paul Tonich who will speak on Social Media and it’s impact, Jonathon Handford - Managing Director of Newman Estate Agents who will speak on the UK’s approach on property management and then there’s James Castrission & Justin Jones who became famous for crossing the Tasman Sea in a kayak who will speak on their challenges and how to overcome adversity. These are just a few of the speakers and their topics so as you can see it will be a real mix of ideas which is really very exciting and we hope to get a lot out of our time there.

A couple of months ago now I gave an interview for which myself and the team were filmed for Business Victoria they approached me as they had discovered that our team had embarked on some tailored Customer Service based training last year and were interested in our team culture for a short video for their website (known as a Vodcast). My assistant Melissa and I attended the launch of this Vodcast and it was great to see and meet the other businesses that were involved in other Vodcasts being launched. There were so many different ideas and great advice given that other small to medium businesses can access via these Vodcasts that will be put online shortly, we will of course keep you posted of the link once they are up. Some of my team were quite shocked to learn they could soon be ‘stars’ as around 800 people per month had viewed the previous series of Vodcasts on the www.business.vic.gov.au website.

And finally a big thank you to all that came along to our recent Self Managed Super Fund Seminar and for all of your fabulous feedback. I was so thrilled that so many of you attended and got so much out of listening to Nicholas Don from Metro Wealth and his colleague Paul Kusli on the night. I wish you all the best in continuing to grow your wealth and am happy to have introduced you all to some new ideas. Again, we will keep you posted on our next Seminar evening in the near future.

Until next time...(enjoy the warmth, albeit temporary)

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