Once he loses sight of the target he can no longer slaughter them all until he knows exactly what they did while out of his sight. They could have dropped it off somewhere before he caught up with them. So he takes prisoners, scans databanks, etc.

"Frankly, when I saw that the door was slightly opened (right at the
beginning of the scene), I wondered why they wouldn't pass the plans to
people on the other side."

His mind is made up. He'll see all of them. Then complain how terrible they are. He's more machine now than man, nostalgic and edgey.

"I find your lack of faith disturbing"

"The transition to New Hope actually left me confused. So prior to this, there had not been outright hostilities between the Empire and the Rebels?"

The Episode 3 Tarkin looked ten times worse, which is why he gets no lines and steps away as soon as the shot gets close. He's wearing a full facial prosthetic which doesn't move and looks like a giant plastic face.

The wife didn't realize it was CG until after the movie when I told her. She thought they were just really good stand-ins.

Not to mention that there's an extended shot of dozens of ships flying away from the city as the Star Destroyer moves off. People are too busy looking for stuff to complain about they miss things like that, apparently.

It checks out. Jyn hit it right in the center of the chest at point-blank range. K-2 keeps getting hit in the shoulders and stuff because he's not facing the people he's fighting.

Yeah, K-2 goes first. That's when I knew they were all going to die. They killed the comic relief first.

Pretty sure Carrie Fisher did, at least. There's a "Special Thanks" to her at the end along with one to the estate of Peter Cushing and the actors of other CG revival characters. Personally I had no problem with them, and the wife didn't even realize they were CG until I told her afterwards.

That was Tarkin to Krennic. Krennic says something like "When this station is ready" and Tarkin interrupts to bark "WHEN has become NOW!"

Twinkle twinkle little star…

The lack of Porkins in the final battle of Rogue One was tragic. I really thought he was gonna have a crazy heroic moment saving Red 5 there…then realized that they were focusing on Red 5 just to explain why the number was available in ANH. Lame!

All through Rogue One I thought his name was "Saul Guevara" and thought they were just not even trying to hide the fact that the "too militant revolutionary" was a Che Guevara reference. I still feel that way, but at least they didn't literally use the same last name!

There was absolutely a novel involving dealing with union leaders and prison laborers and whatnot on Kessel. I can't remember the context or which novel, but I remember it existing.

You seem to have missed the part in the first movie where the Stormtroopers murder every single person who encounters the droids for no real reason. There's nothing at all to suggest that this isn't standard operating procedure for them.

Vader wasn't planning a blockade action in the first place. He was going to sneak in at sublight and orbitally obliterate the base before they knew he was there. The information is actually delivered fairly organically:

The novelization of Ep4, released before the movie and from an older version of the scripts, suggests that the Emperor is a figurehead and that Tarkin and Vader are jointly controlling him. He's also apparently just the latest in a line of corrupt Emperors whom Vader has 'served'.

This is why I love the final arcs of The Clone Wars and the Yoda scenes in Rebels. Those episodes make it very clear how blinded the Jedi had become to what was going on around them. It's not their philosophy that's wrong. The fear of losing an emotional attachment will drive a Force user to the Dark Side…and…