THE LAST JEDI thoughts/reactions/reviews/mind-explosions (spoilers!!)

[Lumine]

Really liked it, despite there beinf some moments that bothered me not only I was glad the film was taking serious risks (this movie will make the blood of some fans boil), I felt I was watching an film that had an actual sense of unpredictability and, more importantly, I felt I was watching a true Star Wars film. I liked The Force Awakens too despite the evident nostalgia and links to A New Hope (which I recognize were probably necessary to keep most of the fanbase calm after the prequels), but even if the ending to TFA was more satisfying than this one, I prefer TLJ in general.

I have no doubt it will be very divisive despite the (thus far) critical acclaim and I strongly disapprove of the fate reserved to a particular character, but I'm glad Star Wars is actually taking risks and trying to move in a different direction.

[Lumine]

The film has its issues and it is clearly no Empire Strikes Back, but I find it a bit silly to see people attempting to brand it as a catastrophic failure in terms of performance (when it isn't) or even worse, as I've seen in other places, as if The Last Jedi was somehow worse than The Phantom Menace or done worse things than some of the most ridiculous moments in the entire saga.

One can question why they made certain decisions on where to move the story in TLJ (I liked the film and yet I strongly disagree with some of those creative choices), but come on, even the Original Trilogy has moments as ridiculous as a bunch of glorified teddy bears defeating what are supposed to be the best troops in the whole Galactic Empire.

[Lumine]

I agree, it's a well done film, but also feels like an insult to the franchise as a whole. In my opinion, the fact that it's a good film is the worst part. I wish I could say what a horrible movie this was, but the only thing wrong with it is the disregard for continuity, and lack of vision for setting up a third film.
It ain't as bad as the prequels, or the teddy bear sequence, but it is my least favorite of the new films.

Actually, I think you hit what I see as the heart of the problem with some of the reactions thus far. There is a difference between finding TLJ a good or bad film and whether one personally likes it or dislikes it (as it's aptly showcased on your post), but it seems to me the rather vocal group of fans who thinks of TLJ's events as some sort of heresy are prepared to burn the whole ship down and brand the movie a disaster (or portray it as such as much as possible) just because they disapprove of the choices that were made.

[Lumine]

Worse than The Phantom Menace? Really? Worse than Jar-Jar, the Neimodians, the whole midiclorian issue, the criminal waste of a character in Darth Maul, the "taxation to outlying star systems"?

Well, we'll have to disagree there.

[Lumine]

the "taxation to outlying star systems"?

The detail and attention given to the geopolitical (cosmopolitical?) context is by far one of the greatest and most admirable things about the prequels, and disparaging it is a surefire way of making me want to disregard any opinion you have about Star Wars.

Agreed, though it could've been better worded and used more as background element.

Evidently establishing a context is important (the sequel trilogy is remarklably bad at this, no complaint there), but I struggle to see how the context that was established in TPM was well handled or well used. So much wasted potential...

It got a lot better in AOTC and ROTS, but it still had its issues.