I notice that people these days hates Cliff-Hangers, but why whats so inhernitly wrong about them. No one complained about the ending toMass Effect 2 or Empire Strikes Back, but alot of people hated the ending to the Hobbit 2 and even Halo 2. What is the big deal here. Whats wrong with ending inconclusively that makes you excitted for the finale?

I saw the Hobbit 1 and hated the fact that the ending came right in the middle of the action. Actually I thought it was funny...laugh out loud in the theatre funny. Of course my Dad, who came with us to watch the movie with his grandkids, and has never read the books and did not know it was a trilogy going in...he did not laugh.

I think it's mainly that I will forget what the first movie was before the second movie comes out. I have no problems with them as I usually will watch the first movie the day before I go see the second.
Now TV is a different story. There have been some cliffhangers for shows that get canceled before the second part gets aired. Again not a problem if it doesn't get canceled and they show the cliffhanger episode before the second part airs.

Because they are used to watching too many cheesy Hollywood movies where there's not only a happy end with full closure but also the ever annoying epilogue where you are told/shown that Johnny and Betsy got happily married / finally got their college degrees / opened an awesome pet shop / started they're own line of fashion etc

Cliffhangers I like. Ruining the pace of a show/game/book is positively rotten.

Jerry Seinfeld summed up well how I feel about cliffhangers: Granted, it's much less of an issue now, as when I'm watching TV nowadays, it'll almost always be streamed or on a disc with the next episode at the ready, thus the cliffhanger becomes only a short interruption rather than a week/month/year long wait for a conclusion.

Yeah, really. I absolutely hate it when they add a lot of bullshit to a film just to have another one. Harry Potter and The Hobbit are good examples. In neither case did adding an additional movie make for a more compelling experience.

But, at least with the Deathly Hallows the result was more or less watchable; The Hobbit was approximately 2-3 hours of Peter Jackson wankering over how good he is to every hour of actual plot.

As far as cliffhangers go, between episodes it's not too obnoxious, but when I have to wait several months for the resolution, that tends to suck. Especially in cases where the show doesn't already have an order for the next season.

I hope Genndy someday returns to finish that story, such an epic series and it hurts me to see it left without a proper conclusion.

Depends on how it's done for me really.
I'd say a good cliffhanger finishes off the main plot of the season/book/movie whilst teasing the plot for the sequel.
Each piece should stand on its own, but still be a part of the larger whole.
That's my two cents anyhoo.

I'm on the fence to cliffhangers for video games. So often a sequel is never made and they end up unresolved. Aside from that I don't mind them.

Ditto. I can actually really dig them with movies.

One game cliffhanger that really pissed me off though was TR 4, not because they ended it like that but because THEY WAITED TWO GODDAMN GAMES to let you in on what happened!!!

SPOILER ALERT:

Chronicles comes out and I think "Great, how does Lara get out of the tomb?" and what do I get? A group of old farts drinking overpriced brandy and reminiscing! AHHHHHH!!!! :O

I hate them because they are not always completed. i.e. Sin Episodes 1 ended with a cliffhanger. There were no further episodes made b/c too many people bashed the first one for paying $20 for a game with only three hours of playtime. (rightfully so IMHO) There have been numerous TV series and games that end at cliffhangers that are then never resolved/continued.

On the topic of the Hobbit.

We all know there was going to be a 3 movies so it was obvious the 2nd film was gonna end in a Cliff-hanger. And personally I like the cliff hanger of the desolation of smaug because it ended in silence and then blackness giving it an Ominus and sort of ambiguous ending. Again just as an ending in itself.

I hate them if part two isn't already written and ready to go. If it was all planned and organized and the show or sequel is already ordered by the studio then okay fine, but a lot of cliffhangers are seat-of-the-pants bullshit that doesn't get properly resolved or feel fluid with its second part.