Michael Mann is the Man

I'm such of a fan of Michael Mann. He rules. Peri-fucking-od. I quote my friend after he saw The Insider "I bowed down to the screen." Perfectly put. He is a masterful director. The performances he gets from actors are incredible. Russell Crowe shouldn't have won an Oscar for Gladiator. He should've won for The Insider. Mann put De Niro and Pacino across from each for the first time in a scene. Go back and watch it. It's brilliant. There is always an intensity to his camerawork. It crackles. It's visceral. He uses handheld the way it should be used. He crosses the line in the middle of a take but when he cuts to the reverse angle it has crossed the line too. Everything is so well planned yet feels so organic and real. His use of music is inspiring, yet he understands when to drop the music and audio altogether. The last 15 minutes of The Last of the Mohicans and the bank robery/shootout in Heat are some of the best scenes ever put to film. I learn a lot from his films, and his dvd commentaries. Plus we share the same birthday. I don't know that I could pick a favorite, although it would probably be The Insider, which I think is his masterpiece. So far. Thoughts?