I love both---for different reasons.
Despite Edward Norton's weaksauce accent and lack of genuine "maleness", I woukd tend to gravitate more towards The Illusionist---great cinematography and IMO Phillip Glass's best score (whom I normally find a repetitive bore).
No doubt The Prestige was a deeper and more thought out movie. I love The Twilight Zone-esque twist. It's not a feel good movie, but is probably is "technically" a better movie--though hard to compare the two. Honestly, Chris Nolan is probably the most methodical and capable director in the business today.
Only commonality between the two is that they involve "magicians".
BTW for all the Alien fans in the room (of which, I am proudly....even Alien3 [there was no Alien 4])----you will be mixed on Alien: Covenant. I loved Prometheus, I loved Alien and Aliens......sort of a slightly-better-than-meh vibe from the movie. Beautifully shot, much more graphic than Prometheus, but decidedly different. If you are expecting a story that continues the ambitious themes of Prometheus (which many are not and don't want), then you will be disappointed.
Contact is now on Amazon Prime. An excellent film, better than I remembered.
I tried to watch contact a couple of times when it first came out and it was rolling on movie central. I just couldn't get into it.
Then about a year ago I was on a Jodie Foster roll for some reason and Contact was on the hit list and I finally made it to the end of the movie.
It has since become one of my favourite movies. Up there with K-Pax as far as a believable or realistic (or just plain old positive) alien films go.
Watched 'Conagher' on recommendation of Rip. Fine movie. Some dialogues stand out. I would like to highlight a recent film 'Prisoners (2013)', should be watched.
Anyone see Covenant yet? The reviews say it is worse than Prometheus (I just rewatched it and it gets better with each viewing), so I'm going to assume that the public just wanted the original Xenomorphs to rip people up and didn't want to have a complex plot.
I was a little disappointed with Covenant, but I had high hopes. It disjointedly continues the story from Prometheus while incorporating a lot more Alien action, and about 2/3rds of the way through it turns into Blade Runner. It's kind of a clusterfuck, with a lot of holes, but still fun and thought provoking if you're into the whole Alien universe.