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Dan Houser is leaving Rockstar Games , the acclaimed video games company he co-founded with his brother in 1998.
Rockstar are one of the most successful games publishers in the business, having released best-selling titles including the Grand Theft Auto Red Dead Redemption
His departure in March follows an “extended break”, according to Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar’s parent company.
Houser was a key creative force on many of Rockstar’s biggest projects, serving as a lead writer for the Grand Theft Auto franchise, as well as Red Dead Redemption and the 2006 high school-set game Bully .
Over the past two decades, Rockstar has earned enormous amounts of praise for their games, as well as criticism for the use of extreme violence and controversial adult content.
Show all 7 1 /7The DCEU movies ranked – worst to best The DCEU movies ranked – worst to best 7. Suicide Squad (2016) It’s the film that crawled straight out of a Hot Topic fever dream, threatening to rain down chaos and chain wallets on us all. Granted, it wasn’t so hard to fall for the charms of its marketing campaign. Released in the grim haze left behind by Batman v Superman (more on that later), Suicide Squad looked us in the eye and promised us an antidote to what had come before. It told us it would be the neon-splattered, anarchist baby brother of the DCEU. All that arrived was the adolescent part. Too much of Suicide Squad is spent on its over-edited character introductions: each arrives on screen with a classic rock track blaring and some meaningless onscreen text (what’s the point of Captain Boomerang’s “unicorn fetish”, again?). All ultimately wasted once the (anti-)heroes are tasked with defeating the DCEU’s most half-baked villain, The Enchantress (Cara Delevingne). She’s a character so devoid of interest, the worst crime she’s guilty of is piss-poor archeology skills.
Warner Bros
The DCEU movies ranked – worst to best 6. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) Although more cohesive in its vision than Suicide Squad, Batman v Superman suffers because that vision is almost entirely delusional. What is presented to us as a philosophical epic – a treatise on morality and personal responsibility – is instantly undone by a series of ludicrous decisions on the part of the film’s director, Zack Snyder. Chief among them, the now-infamous reason that Batman (Ben Affleck) and Superman (Henry Cavill) finally stop pummelling each other and decide to become super friends: their mothers were both called Martha. And why again did Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) have any interest in making these two titans fight? The film’s plot is wildly incoherent, but it only becomes a true chore after the realisation that even Gal Gadot’s introduction as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman isn’t enough to lighten the film’s funereal tone.
Rex Features
The DCEU movies ranked – worst to best 5. Justice League (2017) Justice League contains, at its heart, a story that was only half-realised. Zack Snyder stepped down from his duties as director, following the tragic death of his daughter, Autumn. They were intensely difficult circumstances that didn’t necessarily come with easy answers for the future of Justice League. Warner Bros, however, made an odd choice in inviting Joss Whedon to complete the film. The quip-heavy, energetic style he brought to Marvel’s Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron clashed abrasively with the weightiness of what Snyder had already shot. Yet, Justice League at least has the advantage of showcasing the characters that the DCEU has now bet their future on, with charismatic turns from Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, and Ezra Miller’s The Flash.
Warner Bros
The DCEU movies ranked – worst to best 4. Man of Steel (2013) As the onscreen debut of Cavill’s Superman, Man of Steel at least benefits from a fairly straightforward, linear storyline that duly ticks off the various demands of an origin story. Elements of the film feel over laboured: the Jesus imagery is excessive for a character whose parallels with a religious saviour are already obvious, Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner)’s death scene seems unnecessary, and the film concludes with a seemingly endless destruction fest. Yet, after Superman IV: Quest for Peace (1987) and Superman Returns (2006) turned the franchise into a joke, an approach as sombre as that of director Zack Snyder felt right for the character at the time, flaws aside. Whether he made the right choice in violating Superman’s usual no-kill policy, by having him snap General Zod (Michael Sheen)’s neck, is up for (usually lengthy) debate.
Warner Bros
The DCEU movies ranked – worst to best 3. Aquaman (2018) Aquaman is far from perfect, but credit has to be given to director James Wan for taking such a huge risk with the film and standing by it, even in its most ludicrous excesses. This is a bombastic adventure. And it’s all anchored by its star Jason Momoa, who manages to turn a character who, for years, has been the butt of the joke, into DC’s new party jock hero. Momoa made the man-who-talks-to-fish cool. Unfortunately, it’s also an audience divider: either you buy into the giant crab warriors and the octopus playing drums, or you get distracted by the lazy plotting and the weak dialogue. Unfortunately, beneath all the fishy visuals, the film’s story gets swamped by exposition and an unconvincing central romance.
AP
The DCEU movies ranked – worst to best 2. Shazam! (2019) Shazam! centres on a troubled 14-year-old orphan (Asher Angel) who has the power to transform into a Superman-type character (a visibly delighted Zachary Levi) by saying the film's title. Borrowing heavily from Tom Hanks's Big, the film breezes along, playfully skewering superhero tropes and concluding with a light-hearted, low-stakes climax. Sure, there are segments that drag, and the superhero fights are a little too long, but Shazam! finally gives the world a coherent and fun DCEU film. With this and Aquaman having been released back-to-back, the darkness of Snyder's Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman seems but a fever dream.
Warner Bros
The DCEU movies ranked – worst to best 1. Wonder Woman (2017) When Patty Jenkins entered the ring to direct Wonder Woman’s first solo film since her inception in 1941, she brought something to the DCEU that arguably hadn’t been seen before. Wonder Woman has heart. It’s a film filled with characters you can believe in, root for, and idolise. Although it stumbles at times – its main villain is dull, its side villain is under-used, and its finale relies far too much on CGI – those weaknesses pale in comparison to how beautifully crafted Wonder Woman’s own personal journey is. We see what courage and sacrifice represents, and what it means to fight for the good of others. It’s a rare thing to see a superhero film place at its centre the true ideals of heroism – kindness, justice, and love – and have them all embodied in one character. And with Gal Gadot exuding both power and compassion in equal measure, it’s no wonder that so many uphold her as the bright spot of the DCEU.
Clay Enos/Warner Bros. Entertainment via APAP
They are also renowned for their employment of “crunch” production tactics . “Crunch” refers to the excessively demanding work schedules employed by (predominantly American) game studios to ensure deadlines are met.
In 2018, Houser revealed that his team had been working 100-hour weeks in the run-up to Red Dead Redemption 2 ’s release.
Take-Two said it was “extremely grateful” for Houser’s work, and that the remaining team remained focused on upcoming projects, rumoured to include Grand Theft Auto 6 .
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