Watched it for the 5th time Friday. I think it's awesome and despite some flaws I think it sets up the trilogy nicely. Ultimately, these will be judged as a trilogy in a few years.

Avatar and Avengers are the same tier of movie, so by that metric, sure why not IMO. 

Neither Avatar and Avengers are that great in quality, just entertaining. 

I'd argue on Star Wars alone and not including the sequels Empire and Jedi that several characters featured across all three are less.

For example, I didn't like Luke in the original, but by the end of Jedi I loved him and his arc, he grew up and was more mature and disciplined.

The other big example is Darth Vader. Awesome looking character, but he was just the muscle in the first movie, it was in Empire and Jedi that he became legendary with his story of loss and redemption.

I would argue Han and Leia also benefit from sequels as their relationship and characterization grow.

My point is VIII could or could not really get into Rey, Finn, Ren, and Poe.  I like them enough now that am hopeful they will become more complex and interesting.

And there's is one in ESB when the Emperor talks with Darth Vader when they talk about Luke as a disturbance in the force. The powerful, cold, Darth Sidious needed a lot of time to feel it, yet Snoke felt it inmediatly? And thank god you talk about the Millenium Falcon. Rey is capable of flying, even through to hyper space at light speed in her first time and put the exact coordinates to not end crashing in a planet, and casually near to Han Solo's current ship, even when Luke never was capable and Han mentioned him in Episode IV that it is an exact process because flying at light speed is dangerous. Han is a noob, right?

Oh, and I agree that the prequels have all those flaws, just like TFA. The difference is that at least the prequels have an SW plot, unlike The Remake Awakens.

Can a Jedi lock memories of training from a child? Can memory be unlocked simply by touching a lightsaber? If you recover your memory, can you recover all the skills that a child can aquire, despite not training by years? Why she wasn's able to awake in the first encounter with Kylo Ren? Why Kylo didn't freeze she in the second encounter?

Fair enough, the wording of your OP seemed like there was a gender element, so thanks for clearing that up.

I liked Batman V Superman. There were things not mentioned in the movie that I know were hinted and will likely happen in the future. Didn't matter. Critics said "It didn't happen in the movie" or "That's a great idea but now, your writing your own movie. Your filling in the blanks to make up for poor writing." One guy even said "It's a shame you've written a better movie than the screenwriter".

I see what you " Force Unleashed " fans are going through. I'm sorry. On the bright side, you have review scores on your side.

I just saw the movie, and thought it was astounding. I dunno when the last time was that I enjoyed a movie so much. Mad Max: Fury Road, probably. Both make fantastic use of both practical and digital effects, and are crammed full of awe inspiring shot making.

I don't see the problem with Rei defeating Kylo Ren. The guy was badly injured, and extremely emotionally unhinged after murdering his own father. , which clearly did not give him the peace of mind that he was hoping for. He even had trouble defeating Finn - a freaking storm trooper!

One thing that irked me, however, was Rei's use of Jedi mind tricks. I was under the impression that such things required substantial training and mastery of the force to perform. iirc Luke wasn't working that kind of magic until episode VI. I can almost accept Rey learning to use the Force through pure intuition(partly based on the assumption that much more will be done with the force in the sequels), but mind tricks are sacred, damn it!

I watched it again last night with a group of friends on Blu Ray. Split 50/50 of Star Wars fans and people that casually know about the movies. The response was positive with people enjoying it and saying it was "fun" and moved along at a good pace.

The Star Wars fans did have far more questions. What planets just got blown up, how can Rey use mind tricks, why did Chewy not hug Leia at the end. The casual folks who this was their first viewing found it pretty easy to follow and the most popular characters were Han, Poe, and Rey with BB-8 and Finn as honorable mentions.

I get the criticisms, but with a group in a living room laughing and cheering it is hard not to lose cynicism and just enjoy the adventure and excitement.

I can't imagine watching a Star Wars movies with Star Wars fan, if they are too fervent.

Only one "hardcore" fan and he shook his head a few times at us, but he takes it all in good humor.

We're all curious about Rogue One, that one may take a bit more explaining to casual viewers given when it takes place.