You really need to understand your opinion is only your own.

Rogue One wasn't sterile at all to me, it was exciting through and through and I loved the characters and genuinely felt for them by the end, because they felt like real people who were dealing with situations that were presented to them in a realistic way. I agree the movie has faults and I agree its first half is quite underwhelming, but it does redeem itself at the end.

You know what The Last Jedi never does? Redemption. It never redeems Luke (despite the plot making it seem it would), it never redeems Kylo (despite the plot making it seem it would), it never redeems Finn (because we gotta have that stupid girl come in and say some really cheesy nonsense), and ultimately it never redeems itself. I know people will defend it as "that's why it's so great, because it toys with expectations!", but that isn't a good thing, it's just disrespectful to the audience and dramatically unrealistic when all of the characters act in ways no human ever would - instead they all feel like little toys the plot is dragging along wherever it wants to.

The movie's script isn't bad because it's simple, it's bad because it makes absolutely no sense and just throws out plot-convenient crap all over the place without giving anything ever a solid explanation or reason to happen. For example, Leia's pathetic Superman moment (up there with the most stupid shit I've ever seen in cinema) - we've never seen or heard about Leia using the Force previously in all of four movies, so how come she can do that now? I thought "wow that makes no sense", but well at least they would explain it or at least acknowledge it later, right? Nope they never do, it's just a stupid thing that happens with no explanation or acknowledgement and no reason other than "we want to kill every Resistance leader but Leia needs to survive somehow". Or for example, Snoke spending half the movie showing a level of power and knowledge with the Force pretty much beyond anything we've ever seen in Star Wars, yet he can't notice his own apprentice (who is clearly still garbage) turning the lightsaber right next to him. Or how Holdo, the supposed right-hand of Leia (a character we've never heard of but suddenly exists, because reasons? Couldn't it be Lando or something?), someone she really trusted, has an absolutely pathetic role where she is incapable of explaining, or at the very least motivating her own crew, leading her to be inevitably overthrown just so later the movie can throw a cheap "she was good all along and Poe is stupid" twist?

Also the plot twists. I know it might be hard to believe for some, but having twists for the sake of twists with no prior build-up or no subsequent pay-off isn't a good thing, and this movie doesn't do it once or twice, it does it once or twice every 10 minutes. I hate how everything needs to have twist, everything needs to have a "gotcha" moment where the movie feels like it just wants to laugh at its audience. Plot twists aren't a good thing on their own, they become good eventually when they are 1. impactful, and 2. have a prolonged effect on the story. The plot twists here do none of that. Kylo Ren suddenly becoming evil again in the most unbelievable way after the whole movie was building up to his redemption? That didn't only not make sense, it's a twist that inevitably has no outcome as we just go back to how things were before. Luke dying on the Jedi Temple without doing anything meaningful despite obviously having the chance to with the previously set up X-Wing and also having his redemption built up throughout the movie? That also doesn't make sense given his character, and also has no impact on the story as now he's just gonna be a force ghost and as we've seen here, suddenly force ghosts can now actually influence the real world because... reasons? Again never explained and never acknowledged, it just happens because Disney wanted to put Yoda in one of their movies somehow and that's that (don't get me started on how stupid it is that Luke still needs Yoda's guidance after all this time).

Look, I understand where the lovers come from. The direction and cinematography here is truly outstanding, some scenes like Holdo's sacrifice (as meaningless as it was story-wise) or the final battle on Hoth 2.0 or even the flashback scenes between Luke and Kylo (which by the way were the only thing I actually liked about the story) among many others, it was all shot very well and it looked amazing. Some people also really like not knowing what to expect from a movie, and from those it also makes sense to love it since it is indeed all twists all the time. But you have to understand that no, this isn't the only truth, there are several opinions and hating this movie is clearly a common one, and it actually has good reason.

You really need to understand your opinion is only your own.

Rogue One wasn't sterile at all to me, it was exciting through and through and I loved the characters and genuinely felt for them by the end, because they felt like real people who were dealing with situations that were presented to them in a realistic way. I agree the movie has faults and I agree its first half is quite underwhelming, but it does redeem itself at the end.

You know what The Last Jedi never does? Redemption. It never redeems Luke (despite the plot making it seem it would), it never redeems Kylo (despite the plot making it seem it would), it never redeems Finn (because we gotta have that stupid girl come in and say some really cheesy nonsense), and ultimately it never redeems itself. I know people will defend it as "that's why it's so great, because it toys with expectations!", but that isn't a good thing, it's just disrespectful to the audience and dramatically unrealistic when all of the characters act in ways no human ever would - instead they all feel like little toys the plot is dragging along wherever it wants to.

The movie's script isn't bad because it's simple, it's bad because it makes absolutely no sense and just throws out plot-convenient crap all over the place without giving anything ever a solid explanation or reason to happen. For example, Leia's pathetic Superman moment (up there with the most stupid shit I've ever seen in cinema) - we've never seen or heard about Leia using the Force previously in all of four movies, so how come she can do that now? I thought "wow that makes no sense", but well at least they would explain it or at least acknowledge it later, right? Nope they never do, it's just a stupid thing that happens with no explanation or acknowledgement and no reason other than "we want to kill every Resistance leader but Leia needs to survive somehow". Or for example, Snoke spending half the movie showing a level of power and knowledge with the Force pretty much beyond anything we've ever seen in Star Wars, yet he can't notice his own apprentice (who is clearly still garbage) turning the lightsaber right next to him. Or how Holdo, the supposed right-hand of Leia (a character we've never heard of but suddenly exists, because reasons? Couldn't it be Lando or something?), someone she really trusted, has an absolutely pathetic role where she is incapable of explaining, or at the very least motivating her own crew, leading her to be inevitably overthrown just so later the movie can throw a cheap "she was good all along and Poe is stupid" twist?

Also the plot twists. I know it might be hard to believe for some, but having twists for the sake of twists with no prior build-up or no subsequent pay-off isn't a good thing, and this movie doesn't do it once or twice, it does it once or twice every 10 minutes. I hate how everything needs to have twist, everything needs to have a "gotcha" moment where the movie feels like it just wants to laugh at its audience. Plot twists aren't a good thing on their own, they become good eventually when they are 1. impactful, and 2. have a prolonged effect on the story. The plot twists here do none of that. Kylo Ren suddenly becoming evil again in the most unbelievable way after the whole movie was building up to his redemption? That didn't only not make sense, it's a twist that inevitably has no outcome as we just go back to how things were before. Luke dying on the Jedi Temple without doing anything meaningful despite obviously having the chance to with the previously set up X-Wing and also having his redemption built up throughout the movie? That also doesn't make sense given his character, and also has no impact on the story as now he's just gonna be a force ghost and as we've seen here, suddenly force ghosts can now actually influence the real world because... reasons? Again never explained and never acknowledged, it just happens because Disney wanted to put Yoda in one of their movies somehow and that's that (don't get me started on how stupid it is that Luke still needs Yoda's guidance after all this time).

Look, I understand where the lovers come from. The direction and cinematography here is truly outstanding, some scenes like Holdo's sacrifice (as meaningless as it was story-wise) or the final battle on Hoth 2.0 or even the flashback scenes between Luke and Kylo (which by the way were the only thing I actually liked about the story) among many others, it was all shot very well and it looked amazing. Some people also really like not knowing what to expect from a movie, and from those it also makes sense to love it since it is indeed all twists all the time. But you have to understand that no, this isn't the only truth, there are several opinions and hating this movie is clearly a common one, and it actually has good reason.

You seem to have a faulty memory.  Wedge says immediately that the Another Chance had been found and its weapons added to the Rebellion years earlier, during the time of the Original Trilogy movies.  For the record, the Another Chance story was taken from a West End RPG story back in the early 90s before Zahn even started his work.  The transponder one of the pilots was using only happened to find one of the support ships waiting in Alderaan's debris field.  Contrived, perhaps, but they didn't stumble onto a legendary vessel.  The legend itself not living up to itself.

You're also conflating Darksaber (the whole Callista cycle was a debacle) and Champions of the Force.

I liked Zahn's work as well, it's up there among my favorites of the Star Wars novels.  It's not like there's a zero sum game where I can only like one author.  I just liked Allston's more humorous and adventurous take myself.

All I was really doing was expressing my opinion on the film. 

^This.

Nostalgia has clouded too many people's vision. We all grew up with Star Wars. Hell, I've been there since ROTJ was new, and I even had a couple of the old 1983-84 toys. The franchise, and especially the OT, will always be part our collective cultural consciousness. They're classics that will be fondly remembered long after we're all dead. I've watched them myself probably 200 times or more in the past 30+ years. The fact that I grew up with the OT (the original pre-special edition versions, even!) means that, regardless of quality, more recent films in the franchise will probably never fully live up to them in terms of their impact on me. We will always elevate certain classics we enjoyed as kids above films we experience in our 20s, 30s, or later. Because we grew up with them and are special to us, we tend to excuse their flaws (and what movie doesn't have flaws?). Our nostalgia has rendered them perfect in our eyes. But that doesn't mean that "New Hotness" can't also be enjoyable.

Do I like the new trilogy more than the OT? Of course not. I can't. The OT was an important part of my childhood, and I watched those three movies as often as I could (I'd go running into the living room whenever I heard this). But the new films are still immensely enjoyable movies. I watch TFA regularly, and I've enjoyed every minute of it. Rogue One had masterful cinematography and set pieces that kept me glued to the seat. And TLJ was fun movie, one which I will be seeing again Saturday, and one that has me interested and excited to see where the story goes in Episode IX. I'd give each of them a solid 8 out of 10, better than what I'd give the prequels.

But some people have some idea built up in their head about what Star Wars is supposed to be, and when their expectations get subverted, they take it personally, as if someone is shitting all over their childhood. They make overblown claims about how the new films are supposed cinematic atrocities. They engage in nitpicky complaints that one could easily lodge against the original films, and engage in special pleading to say "No, this is totally different because I say so." They exaggerate supposed flaws (e.g., calling Rey a Mary Sue when she's not). And now they go out of their way to discourage others from viewing TLJ at all just to hurt the film, and they even use specious comparisons of box office data to make the film look like a borderline flop (or at least a disappointment) when it's anything but. The sheer amount of hate from certain circles of the internet is simply beyond the pale. This thread, as well as certain other places on the internet (IGN comments section comes to mind), have turned into an "I hate NuWars!" circlejerk. It's unwarranted, unneeded, and has made the Star Wars fan community toxic as fuck. I have never seen so much salt over a fucking movie before.