Happy birthday to the Mann!

My favorite filmmaker, Michael Mann, the director who brought us such magnificent film as Heat, Collateral, Miami Vice, The Insider, Last of the Mohicans, Ali, Thief, and Manhunter (the first adaptation of Red Dragon, the first story in the Hannibal Lecter series) turns 64 years young today!

I love his films because, unlike so many directors out there, his filmic visions seem to get better with age! Though I'm sure some naysayers would argue that he capped out with Heat and The Insider during the '90s, and that Miami Vice was a cash-in. Thankfully, I'm not one of those naysayers. Rather, I look at all his films and am utterly floored by the incredible depth of knowledge that this man has with the world—particularly the criminal world—and how he takes us right into that world without any Hollywood preconceptions of how it operates. Just this weekend, I got to listen to the commentary track on the Miami Vice DVD, and was completely stunned by how deeply he researched that film and how authentic he made undercover work for the audiences. Other than Martin Scorsese, I can't think of any other director who approaches his films with that kind of vision, authenticity, and dedication.

So today I raise my glass to the Mann, with hopes to keep up the good work, and to wish him a happy birthday!