To many creatures actually is an issue. And unneccessary plot parts, basically that whole casino planet the way it was shown.
Questionable character development is, well, questionable.
I actually liked Snoke being killed that early instead of having a second Palpatine-like character in the next chapter. But Hux is a joke and Kylo far from a Darth Vader.
I really missed character development. Yes, Rey is a good example. She now has accepted the force and that's it. Period. Everything else seems pretty much unchanged. No real doubts or uncertainties.
Luke might be not that portrayed. At least that's my oppinion. He always had his insecurities.

About the effects discussion:
The one special effect with the best result is the better one. Being it practical effects, CGI or a combination of both. Don't forget that puppets and animatronics usually don't move that well so they might look real, but like a thing and not like a living creature.

Not true. I liked Justice League and Murder on the Orient Express recently. But you're shying away from the fact that you're disregarding actual plot issues brought up by TC.

...really? Huh. Well every time I've checked a movie thread I've never seen you once say any movie is better than "Okay". I would like to see Murder on the Orient Express myself

One major criticism I have is when one of the three main story lines is built on bad reasoning and characters acting dumb.

What happens: Aldo takes command, Poe has questions, Aldo says nothing about plan, "Hothead" Poe creates own plan in vacuum, plan leads nowhere, Poe's plan sabotages Aldo plan.

What could have happened: Aldo tells Poe plan. Save thirty minutes of movie to dedicate to more focused and in depth narrative.

What also could have happened: Aldo doesn't tell Poe plan, explains that tracking through hyper space should be impossible and after recent loses states they may have a spy on board leaking information. He has to trust her, she has a plan, but no one outside the core group can know.

Poe agrees, plan goes ahead. Poe disagrees, Aldo locks him in the brig with guards.

When Aldo sacrifices herself in a scene that on its own is cool, it loses all impact knowing her poor leadership led to this. She had multiple options and picked the worst one. This is a story that could have had great ratcheting tension (I would have replaced fuel with shield integrity myself) as they lose and have to come up with ways to buy time to get to the planet.

Aldo should have been Leia when sacrifcing herself. 

With how weird Aldo was acting I was hoping she was a double agent

#5 - I agree. Practical effects are king. They just are. Look at a movie like Fury Road and then look at The Last Jedi. It's night and day. TFA looks better than TLJ, because of its practical effects. Heck, the original trilogy looks better, because of the care and attention that went into models, matte paintings, puppets, etc.

#4 - Disagree. While this isn't the Luke we all imagined, I think the script does this interpretation justice. I mean, Luke tells Rey what happened. In his hubris and because of his belief in his own legend, he took on more than he was capable of. Luke represents the Jedi Order, which he now sees as dogmatic and prideful, so he removed that representation from the universe. He hid himself away because the Force belongs to no group or no man. Remember that the original ending of Return of the Jedi has Luke walking off into the sunset. He didn't stick around to rebuild. Honestly, even though it doesn't gel with my own ideas of his character, the conceptualization and character development of Luke in TLJ was handled splendidly.

#3 - Disagree. Sure there are some plot conveniences and MacGuffins but these don't detract much from the experience. As Hitchcock said, "effect" is more important than "logic" in movies.

#2 - I really don't think of this as "girl power." If you want to call it bad writing fine. I mean, this criticism is applicable, regardless of gender. Framing it as such says more about you than about the movie.

#1 - There's a lot going on in this paragraph, and I agree with some and disagree with others. I agree that we needed more time training on the island -- it was the best part of the movie, with the most characterization. This is a structural/narrative problem, though. I also agree that the "gray side" set-up had no payoff. Rey joining Ben in a faction-less "gray" twosome was the smart call here. But they're too afraid to pull the trigger. Part of me thinks Disney intervened here.

Agreed. It would have been preferable that

A: Aldo doesn't exist, Leia does the sacrifice
B: Aldo exists as a double agent
C: Aldo doesn't exist, Poe is in command and does the sacrifice

TFA should have served as a warning.

With hindsight right now my rating of Force Awakens has dropped after seeing Last Jedi.  It would take something monumental for IX to redeem VII and VIII for me.

This is why Vader will always be the best thing about Star Wars. I'm still pissed off at how easily they wrote him off in the classic movie.

He can Force Crush/Grip/Choke/Throw/Push/Wave/Repulse among other things and own people with it. He has been ambushed by eight Jedi on Kessel and has killed 5 of them. He has defeated An'ya Kuro, (one of the most powerful Jedi Masters), Celeste Morne, Ferus Olin twice, and has moved so fast when he killed Roan Lands that Ferus didn't even manage to react. He can be almost invincible with his rage alone and does not need the Orbalisk armor.

Also, Vader has a massive (if not the greatest) resistance to Force Lightning.

/rant