In the summer of 1987, my best buddy and I left the Deep Southfor Hollywood.

We went in search of fame and fortune in the movies.

We wound up burning popcorn at the Mann Theatre in Tarzana.

Full Metal Jacket, The Untouchables and Beverly Hills Cop2 were popular that summer. So were Robocop, Predatorand Dirty Dancing.

We worked double shifts to pay the rent and often foundourselves star struck. At the concession stand, we met Pat Benatar,members of the Jackson 5, and Michael Winslow, the actor known as"the man of 10,000 noises." You probably know him from all of thosePolice Academy movies. I knew him as the guy who made afire alarm noise when I served him popcorn the color of coal.

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I felt bad about burning the popcorn, but mainly I was homesick.My buddy and I wrote increasingly forlorn letters each week to ourfamilies back home. We called the letters "Tales from La La Land."We didn't make it very long there. We were back home just in timefor the fall semester of college.

Flash forward 30 years and our pet name for Hollywood hasresurfaced: La La Land is one of the best picturenominees.

Although Hollywood sent me packing for home, I've never lost mylove of the movies. I write about business topics now, but I'moften looking for that intersection of film and commerce. So inthese next pages, I offer five strategic lessons to learn from this year'sAcademy Award nominees.

Arrival

Starring: Amy Adams, JeremyRenner, Forest Whitaker

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve

What's it about: Aliens have landed! Thealiens have landed! Military regimes around the globe want to blasttwelve alien spheroids back to kingdom come, but a linguisticsprofessor (Amy Adams) wants to break their code not theirspaceships.

Why watch it: For the Amy Adamsperformance. Her character slowly understands things, informationthat the audience begins to piece together as well, inheartbreaking fashion.

Interesting factoid: Octopuses, whales,elephants, and spiders were all sources of inspiration when it cameto creating the aliens, Abbott and Costello.

Business lesson: The art of communication.Of all the movies I watched this year,Arrival connected with me the deepest on a businesslevel. So much of the financial services industry hinges on clearcommunication, being heard, but also being understood, and thechasm we all have in communicating with one another is palpable inthis film.

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Memorable scene: I have to be careful hereto not give away the ending, but it's a moment where thelinguistics professor has a conversation in Mandarin, and, as thesaying goes, the die is cast.

Memorable quote:

Dr. Louise Banks: "Purpose requires an understanding ofintent. We need to find out: Do they make conscious choices? Or istheir motivation so instinctive that they don't understand a 'why'question at all? And biggest of all, we need to have enoughvocabulary with them that we understand their answer."

Manchester By the Sea

Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, KyleChandler

Directed by: Kenneth Lonergan

What's it about: An uncle is asked to takecare of his teenage nephew and serve as his guardian after theboy's father dies.

Why watch it: The strong bonds that form.They don't come easily. Instead, they take their time to knittogether. It follows that these relationships are more like reallife than the stuff of movies.

Interesting factoid: This is thefirst film distributed or co-distributed by a streamingservice — in this case, Amazon — to get an Oscarnomination for Best Picture.

Business lesson: Mentorship. One of thecommon threads I hear from advisors is their belief in mentorshipprograms. So many advisors point to a mentor as a huge reason fortheir success and they are committed to returning the favor bymentoring other advisors.

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Memorable scene: The scene around the pingpong table where a gang of rowdy guys are having a bit too much funand single mom Randi Chandler (Michelle Williams) breaks up theirparty and shows the guys that one woman can have as strong a voiceas ten men.

Memorable quote:

Patrick: "You don't want to be my guardian, that's fine withme."

Lee: "It's not that. It's just thelogistics."

Patrick: "All my friends are here. I got two girlfriends andI'm in a band. You're a janitor in Quincy. What the hell do youcare where you live?"

La La Land

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, RosemarieDeWitt

Directed by: Damien Chazelle

What's it about: Boy meets girl. Boy and girllook for their muse and struggle with the choice between aonce-in-a-lifetime love or the spotlight.

Why watch it: The music, the song anddance. La La Land is a throwback to the films ofthe golden era of film when characters were faced with problems orobstacles and they dealt with it by breaking into dance, allowingthemselves to be swept away by the beauty of music.

Interesting factoid: La LaLand equaled the record for most Oscar nominations, with14, tying the record previously set by All AboutEve (1950) and Titanic (1997).

Business lesson: Listen to your muse. Yougot into this business for a reason. Never lose sight of that.Something drives you to help people create and keep a nest egg wellinto their retirement years. Hold onto that passion that broughtyou into the industry in the first place and use it to help yourclients reach their dreams.

Memorable scene: The final dance sequence,one of the most beautiful and perfectly choreographed scenes evercaught on film.

Memorable quote:

Mia: "Maybe I'm not good enough!"

Sebastian: "Yes, you are."

Mia: "Maybe I'm not! It's like a pipe dream."

Sebastian: "This is the dream! It's conflict and it'scompromise, and it's very, very exciting!"

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Hell or High Water

Starring: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges

Directed by: David Mackenzie

What's it about: Toby Howard (Chris Pine)and his brother (Ben Foster) decide to rob banks so they can raiseenough money to pay off the reverse mortgage that will forfeittheir recently deceased mother's ranch.

Why watch it: Jeff Bridges. "The Dude" isa revelation in this Oscar-nominated supporting role. His TexasRanger character is facing mandatory retirement, but he is notcontent to fade away into the dustbin of history. This last casegives him a newfound purpose, a second chance to figure out why hebecame a ranger in the first place.

Interesting factoid: The phrase "come hellor high water" typically means "do whatever needs to be done, nomatter the circumstances." It also refers to the "hell or highwater clause" in a contract, usually a lease, which states that thepayments must continue regardless of any difficulties the payingparty may encounter.

Business lesson: A family thing. TheHoward brothers are pushed to their limit financially. What theydo, taking the law into their own hands, is wrong, but the lovethey have for one another is a powerful reminder of what mattersmost to people, ensuring that their loved lones are taken care of.

Memorable scene: The beautiful scenebetween Bridges and his partner that starts out as playful banter,but then becomes a commentary on land, family, and the pull ofgreed.

Memorable quote:

Tanner Howard: "Maybe we should hit anotherbranch."

Toby Howard: "You know, you talk like we ain't gonna getaway with this."

Tanner Howard: "I never met nobody get away with anything...ever, you?"

Toby Howard: "Then why on the hell did you agree to doit?"

Tanner Howard: "Because you asked, little brother."

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Hidden Figures

Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, KevinCostner, Jim Parsons

Directed by Theodore Melfi

What's it about: A team ofAfrican-American women mathematicians who served a vital role inNASA during the early years of the U.S. space program.

Why watch it: For the history lesson. Ilove discovering bits of our history and heritage, and this tale ofwomen who were known as "human computers" is both educational andinspiring.

Interesting factoid: Kevin Costner's thirdfilm about the Kennedy Administration. He previously appeared inJFK (1991) and Thirteen Days (2000).

Business lesson: Believe in your team.You've done the hard work in researching and hiring the people whowork for you. You can train them, guide them, but at some point,it's time to take off the training wheels and let their talentshine. You believed in them enough to hire them in the first placeso believe in them now as an integral part of your team.

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Memorable scene: The wonderful momentwhere Katherine (Taraji P. Henson) works out the flight trajectoryof the rocket (all in her head) for the stunned NASA brass.

Memorable quote:

Karl Zielinski: "Mary, a person with an engineer's mindshould be an engineer. You can't be a computer the rest of yourlife."

Mary Jackson: "Mr. Zielinski, I'm a negro woman. I'm notgonna entertain the impossible."

Karl Zielinski: "And I'm a Polish Jew whose parents died ina Nazi prison camp. Now I'm standing beneath a spaceship that'sgoing to carry an astronaut to the stars. I think we can say we areliving the impossible. Let me ask you, if you were a white male,would you wish to be an engineer?"

Mary Jackson: "I wouldn't have to. I'd already beone."

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