5. Godzilla
To a 2013 audience, the original Japanese Godzilla might appear to be dated nonsense, but in amongst the practical effects and hammy look is a genuine sense of fear and an important subtext. Ishiro Honda's Godzilla is about the devastation World War II had on Japan and more specifically the dropping of the atomic bomb on two Japanese cities. It's a devastating film and it's hard not to admire the ingenuity that went into creating the film, because in 1954, brilliant CGI didn't exist, directors had to find ways of making monsters look like monsters. Roland Emmerich's 1998 remake on the other hand was as dumb and boring as every other Roland Emmerich film. He's a hack who somehow takes the concept of a giant, destructive reptile and make it the most inane movie released that year. His film isn't about anything, it just slogs along, looking awful and doing nothing of interest. A massive budget US remake of Godzilla was inevitable (indeed there's another one on the way next year), but nobody expected a film quite as empty as the one Emmerich churned out.