The way I read this is...John doesn't want to sit in a movie seat that long. Honestly? I can't blame ya. Those things are uncomfortable, and if you get a lousy seat your neck gets all twisted around.
When I said "we sorely miss" I most certainly meant us serious fans. I know the majority of the audience never read the books, and probably won't go out and do so (although a lot have to be sure.) But considering what was left in the movies, not much could have been removed without seriously compromising the story line. There were only a few entire concepts removed from the movies. (Like Tom Bombadil in the first, Scouring of the shire in the third.) And a large portion of the second book was pushed into the third movie to even out the timeline (given that the Scouring of the shire was removed, which is practically half of the third book.) This resulted in a much less suspenseful ending of the second movie than the second book provides. But it also made the third movie more exciting than the third book. All in all, I say he did the best to appease both worlds. Any less movie and he would have met scathing reviews across the board for cutting so much out that he decimated the story itself, any more movie and people would have shot themselves in the theater (the non-die hard fans).
