1. The Matrix (1999)
Its almost unbelievable how often the Wachowskis (formerly brothers before Larry became Lana) appear in the news as the potential directors of the latest instalment in big budget franchises. If you were in a job and hadnt delivered in thirteen years youd be out on the street sooner than you could say I completely forgot about Speed Racer. The Matrix was an absolute smash-hit on release, praised primarily for its visual style. Bullet-time became immediately iconic parodied en masse and now must have at least one humourless mention in every film of the Scary Movie ilk. Outside the hype of 1999, the films looses some of its brilliance its nowhere near as smart as it wants to be but theres no denying its remains a fun watch and theres few people out there who dont enjoy it. On the contrary, I know no one who has anything but bad words about the sequels. That embarrassment was followed by five years of silence only for them to go one worse with an adaptation of long forgotten anime Speed Racer. The Matrix is the perfect example of a fluke. When it hit, the Wachowskis visual sense was viewed as visionary, but it turned out that wasnt brilliant direction; it was literally all they could do. For the sheer popularity the siblings still appear to have, they rightfully deserve to top this list.