I definitely think TFA takes more liberties; it's certainly not perfect; it's aiming to be more a "crowd pleaser" and to set the table for the next two. plus, who, knows? there might be secrets revealed which explain a bunch of stuff.
I found that it did hold up very well after a second viewing; that is, I didn't any…

I'm not bringing it down at all, its one of my favorite movies. I'm just saying its not the death of a movie for it rely on coincidences.
I'm hoping we do get more of an explanation of MVS's character because it is totally random.

Yeah but you could do the same thing with ANH. Leia just happens to know where Obi Wan has been hiding in his super secret exile and just happens to be flying by when the Empire is catching up to her, and sends the Death Star plans down in a droid who happens to be captured by Jawas who live in the same part of the…

I like that Ren is a totally different kind of villain than Vader. Like Abrams has said, "he's a work in progress." It will be interesting to see him develop, and, yeah, they're basically hitting the "do over" button on Anakin and showing how someone might actually go to the Dark Side. Pretty cool, IMO.

that's the problem with you kids, you don't know what you want! that's why you're still kids, because you're stupid!!!

I think if he was living on that island with all those stairs, he'd be in MUCH better shape.
Conclusion: the reason he was standing on the cliff staring off into nothing is that he was too fat and lazy to walk back down the stairs, and his look of disappointment was not due to Rey, but because he was hoping Chewie…

Seriously man, shit. lol. It feels really good to be this excited about VIII right after VII though, instead of dreading it, or even being skeptical.

maybe…but I would find that tough to swallow. I mean, Luke was left with sympathetic caretakers where he would be safe, but where he could be watched by Obi Wan; leaving Rey with that dude just seems cruel, and dangerous. Whoever left her there, I'm assuming they were not hiding her for HER safety, but for more…

I'm actually pretty confident that it is him. I thought at first it was Max Von Sydow's character saying that, but the second time I saw it, it sure sounded like the scrap dealer, and it was definitely his hand holding hers.
Although, MVS might have a role to play in her history too…it's kind of random that he is there…

I'm actually really excited to see the Knights of Ren running around being evil and shit. I'm assuming we didn't see them cause they're off training with Snoke…when we see them in the flashback, only Ren has a lightsaber, so maybe they were still in the early parts of their training when they were sent to slaughter…

Rey sees that vision of Luke and R2 when she first touches the lightsaber.

dude Chewie went apeshit and totally wrecked shop. It was awesome.

yeah "slave" is inexact, it seems more like indentured servitude, or just a hopelessly dependent economic situation. All of her efforts go towards collecting things to give to that guy in order to eat, so she doesn't have any true freedom. I'm using "slave" as short hand for that I guess.

true…but its not consistent, because he also jumps up to save Rey when he thinks she's in trouble on Jakku…IDK, like i've said, it didn't ruin the movie for me but if they had really worked on Finn being more than a comic foil, likable good guy he would be more interesting. but oh well, he's fun! And maybe Rian…

the sad thing is that the "clone wars" hung over the first trilogy but Star Wars has done literally nothing interesting with the idea of clones or with clones being a threat to the safety of the galaxy.

they are flippant comments based on how Hollywood likes its characters to be young regardless of how old the actor is, like how people in their mid twenties often play high school students.

Maybe…but in her flashback, she is crying, watching the ship flying away, and the pimple is holding her hand saying, "come on, girl!" which to me implies that she was already with him the moment she was abandoned.

in Star Wars it wouldn't be a Power Point, it would be a green holographic slide

Yeah, if I saw my long-lost daughter after 15 years I would offer her a job rather than tell her that I was her dad and explain why I left her to be a slave on a desert planet.

yeah its just…weird. A weird interpretation of that scene that is now sitting unchallenged on the "official disney wiki." lol. it's like some mouth-breather couldn't handle the idea that Ren actually lost to a girl…