Metro's Monthly Movie Review

Each month a team member of MetroPM writes a movie review to share with you. And this month team member Merryn Schmidt has reviewed the movie ‘Now You See Me'. Directed by: Louis Leterrier and Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Michael Caine & Morgan Freeman

'Now You See Me' is a star studded movie including, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, (Aussie) Isla Fisher, Michael Caine and my all time favourite actor Morgan Freeman. Right from the opening scenes you are captivated by the wonders of magic and illusion, as you are very quickly introduced to the four main characters, but beware as; "The closer you look, the less you see".

Four unrelated magicians answer an intriguing  invitation, from a mysterious source, 12 months later,  they return to the stage as 'The Four Horseman'. Performing to sold out audiences, 'The Four Horseman' perform the perfect bank heists, but not for their own financial gain.  It is the audience who financially gain from these illusions, in a modern day 'Robin Hood' style.

FBI and Interpol Agents are constantly made to look the fools, as they endeavour to solve these unexplainable crimes, without admitting to the power of ‘magic'. Of course there are twists and turns, but this cleverly made movie will keep you entertained and guessing to the end.

I took my 3 teenage children with me to see the film, and we were all captivated from beginning to end. Part of what appealed to me, apart from the awesome cast, was that there was no extreme violence or coarse language, just good quality entertainment. 

I highly recommend seeing ‘Now You See Me’ and give it a 4 Star review!

Metro's Monthly Movie Review

Each month a team member of Metro writes a movie review to share with you. And this month our Director Leah Calnan has reviewed 'Wreck it Ralph'

Movies and school holidays go hand in hand, so this week I enjoyed 'Wreck It Ralph' with my three children.

Firstly when you get there you need to get over the initial shock of the movie ticket prices, which is then followed by the "How much is the popcorn moment"??? So once we got past this, we were ready to sit down and enjoy another Disney movie.

A Disney movie is always a wonderful experience, and having spent time in Disneyland a little while ago, I always find it exciting when I have the opportunity to sit back and see how incredibly talented the people behind Disney really are.

What I didn't realise was, 'Wreck It Ralph' was in fact an actual game played in arcades just as the movie shows. Thanks to Gen Y for updating me on that one!! Anyway, Ralph decides he no longer wants to be a 'baddie'.  He wants to be a 'goodie' because no one invites him to parties,  he lives at 'The Tip' and he doesn't really have any friends. So he goes off to join another game in the arcade where he can show the people from his game that he can be a 'goodie'. However that adventure goes somewhat 'pear shaped' because whilst becoming a 'goodie', he ends up taking 'baddies' into a third game within the arcade.

But, don't despair - like all good movies there is a happy ending but with a few more twists, turns and lots of lollies and sweet things along the way (you will understand when you see it). I must say Jane Lynch makes the movie. You simply cannot take 'Sue Sylvester' (from the TV Show Glee) out of her voice!!!

So on behalf my children, they have provided the following opinion ratings on the movie, Cooper rates the movie 19/20,  Jack rates the movie 13/20 and Liam says its 12/25.

Take the kids and see what you think for yourself...

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 Courtney Gardoll has reviewed 'The Five Year Engagement' Directed by: Nicholas Stoller, Starring: Jason Segal, Emily Blunt & Chris Pratt

Having recently become engaged myself I was looking forward to seeing this movie, as weddings are on my mind!

Jason Segal, best known for his work on the TV series 'How I Met Your Mother' and in the film 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall', heads up the cast while also co-writing this edgy romantic comedy, which plays to his style of comedy. 

The Five Year Engagement explores the modern day dilemma of managing a successful career and a relationship. We meet Tom and Violet, played by the hilarious Jason Segal and the gorgeous Emily Blunt respectively, who after a year together have become engaged.

The couple then move interstate as Violet has secured her dream job. Tom gives up a fantastic career of his own for the move and this leads to him becoming increasingly distant from both Violet and society. Violet can see this happening but chooses to ignore it by burying herself in her work with her charming boss while Tom continues to hide his true feelings about the move even though he has promised to let her know as soon as he’s unhappy. The wedding gets postponed again and again while the couple fall in and out of love, much to the dismay of the ever passing away grandparents. It takes some soul searching for each of the main characters to realise what the audience has known all along, that they belong to each other, with the movie coming full circle back to the start only this time with a twist.

There is a good mix of both crude and obvious humor and sweetness between the characters and also, as in forgetting Sarah Marshall, Jason Segal’s butt! A special mention should be made to Tom’s best friend, Chris, and Violet’s sister, Suzie, who deliver many of the funny scenes.

I give The Five Year Engagement 7/10, whilst you may go into the film thinking this is your typical romcom the on screen chemistry between Jason Segal and Emily Blunt is amazing.  You could not be blamed for thinking the actors had an offscreen romance, although I have heard them in interviews vehemently denying so.
I would recommend getting to the cinema and seeing it, but I can also see how it may not be everyone’s style.

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)