At the risk of sounding like an advert I've been looking at HitFilm recently. People seem to compare favourably with after effects - the particle engine is apparently better but it's not as good in other areas. Check out this short movie with effects from the package.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QoNouEfjuo
Looks like they have a new version coming out on the 1st of November and in the runup there's a third off the current products with a free upgrade to version 2 until the 8th of October. That makes the ultimate version $263.33 which seems like a really good deal.
http://community.hitfilm.com/index.php? ... ovember-1/
Discount details are towards the bottom of the page.