The Prestige
The Prestige is much better than I thought it would be. I had resisted seeing it when it came out two years ago because I had recently seen The Illusionist and assumed that "The Prestige" would be another silly romance with magicians. Boy, was I wrong. There are some great nuggets in this film, including David Bowie as Nicola Tesla, the Tesla/Edison side story, a decent performance from Scarlett Johansson, and the twist at the end. The writing doesn't pander to the audience too much, and the leads remain focused on portraying the determination behind their rivalry. There's no cheesy romance to side track Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. They could take Edward Norton any day.
I regret unfairly judging such a great film based solely on a bad experience with a movie from the same genre.