039 Christopher Nolan: The Prestige (2006)

What's more impressive: that Christopher Nolan made the masterpiece that is The Prestige, or that he did it between Batman movies? Sandwiched between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, The Prestige has Batman and Wolverine square off in a head-to-head magic showdown that will ruin both characters' lives forever... and make us all watch in awe and wonder. It's yet another movie in which Nolan uses time and non-linear storytelling to amplify the narrative, and though it's not baked into the story (as it is in Memento), it's core to the narrative structure of the film. Alternating between the present and various pasts, The Prestige shows us it has nothing up its sleeves, nothing in its hands, yet executes its story with such a masterstroke that you'll be convinced magic exists. The only question: Are you paying attention?