not really the the fault of the new movies?
Sorry gotta disagree.
Stopping a blaster bolt and holding it there for entire scene.. Yet , it's ALMOST believable because he's been training for years, yet his power seems negligible next to someone who has not trained at all. The films just kind of make up the rules as they waddle along to a conclusion.
So the proverbial last page of the great book has been torn out, and thrown away. More chapters have been added, the story extended, new characters have showed up. And yet as we get closer to seeing the new end of the story, I realized what I wanted was not for the perfect ending to be torn up, but just to see what the universe was like. When the sequels were announced I wanted to see them because I wanted to see what could be built from them. Instead, I just feel betrayed. To me, the saga will always have an end that is utterly perfect and captures the spirit and warmth of friends coming together: our heroes celebrating at the Ewok village.. a last shot where we can see Lando getting down and having fun, where Luke, Han and Leia finally have happiness and reflection, and the shot quickly becomes black as space as Richard Marquand's name appears, someone who few people knew about but was tasked with directing the actors on the set for the final film and making sure the story was told on the set. Yes maybe George Lucas was the puppetmaster, standing behind him for most of the important scenes, and maybe more experienced players at ILM like Denis Muren were bringing teh space battles to life, but Marquaind made a film that we could say ended a great saga. Was the film perfect? Nah, my problems were not the ewoks (I'll defend how they were used, and find it quite fun) but just how the pacing didn't seem to be as punchy as the other films. Most of the film is people arriving places (Vader arriving at the death star, The droids, Leia and Luke arriving at the palace all separately, Palpatine arriving at the death star, etc) and maybe if they could have afforded it, the story could have had bit more edge to it in act two (like imagine if a wing of TIES had attacked the the fleet as they gathered, destroying a good number of ships and leaving the question of whether their Bothan intelligence was actually correct and should they gamble on it). But at least Return of the Jedi, capped off by the most spectacular land and space battles and the most personal lightsaber duel put on film, the movie never, not for one second, forgot what the heart of Star Wars was.. people coming together to defend or fight with their family and friends, and it's the faith in them that makes everything work. I don't see that faith, the deep-seeded trust, in any of the new films. so why the proverbial last page was ripped out and the new pages were added is a mystery to me.