@wkadalie: That had more to do with the project being rushed than in any intention on the studio's part. Peter Jackson wanted to do it in two films and later realized that was impossible due to almost no time being allotted for the necessary pre-production. It was a miracle the trilogy turned out as well as it did. Under any other director it might have been a complete train-wreck.
@merwanor: Being a big fan of Sillmarillion, I can tell you it would never work as a film. A TV series would be the only way to go, but who would be willing to foot the bill for such an ambitious project? And would Peter Jackson even be interested?
@keech: I agree that blaming Star Wars for lower-than-expected-profits is a stretch, but I don't think combining two movies into one would have resulted in a superior product. Three-hour movies are not easily tolerated these days, and making Mockingjay work even in the space in three hours would have been hard. A lot would have had to be left out of the story for the sake of running time, and I hate it when directors compromise their vision (or an author's vision) because of the clock.
Without seeing the deleted scenes, it's hard to say whether these cuts were made for good reasons. Certainly, the film could have done with some more exposition.
This guy obviously believes that George Lucas would do a better job with the lore-building than JJ Abrahms did, and maybe he's right. Unfortunately, Lucas would also bring with him his terrible writing skills and his desire for complete control over the production. After what happened with the prequels, the argument to bring George Lucas back to a Star Wars film is a weak one.
@kazeswen: Failure in movies is often due to things entirely outside of a director's control. Sometimes studio interference can doom what would otherwise be a decent movie.
@wyansas: Having a 99% shot is no excuse to get careless. The secret to success in X-COM is to think defensively. You don't win by finishing the mission, you win by getting everyone home alive. Always be in cover, and always have another trooper close to provide support when the RNG gods fail you.
In fact, fighting defensively was so effective most of the time that the devs mixed things up in Enemy Within by introducing meld, which you could only get if you found the canisters within a certain number of turns, forcing more aggressive play.
Writing fiction is hard. Gloriously so. Sometimes you will have great days and produce a dozen pages of quality material that doesn't need major revisions. Most of the time it is a long hard slog through the mud if you try to keep to any sort of timetable. It's been my experience that great fiction cannot be rushed. It happens when it happens. More importantly, writing with consistent quality requires large blocks of uninterrupted time and no distractions. This is what GRRM has been lacking for a while, so it's no surprise that he's struggling.
George needs to double-down on his writing and limit his outside interactions to the people he absolutely needs to stay in contact with, like the producers of the show. A little focus can go a long way.
JRLennis' comments