@Suaron_x: Yeah, they should have made it a Poe Dameron standalone film instead. He was the best part of The Force Awakens, even if he was just Wedge Antilles with more lines and charisma.
Oh, yeah, can't wait for The Bourne Whatever. They haven't made a decent movie since the first one, so they're totally due for a good film! I'm sure this is the time they'll break that streak.
Seriously, though, Civil War is the only one on the list that inspires any kind of optimism.
@Jdzspace: You seem to be missing the point. It's not that I think the movie was bad. It wasn't. It wasn't especially good, either. Just 'meh'. But, more importantly, it doesn't do anything substantial to move the needle of the series. It neither adds to Star Wars nor detracts from it, because it doesn't try to do anything new. It just rehashes elements of the previous films, like a remedial course for a new generation who wasn't raised on the originals. Ultimately, everything good or notable or memorable from The Force Awakens is only so because we remember seeing it before in another Star Wars movie. It lives in those films' shadows, and those are great, long shadows to inhabit, but it also means the originals will always eclipse the imitator. I'm hopeful that episode 8 will have the courage to try to step beyond the lines prescribed by its predecessors and actually expand the universe in some meaningful way, but I'm also fearful that Disney will see the massive returns from The Force Awakens, decide to take the 'safe' road and say, "Yeah, let's just do another rehash again. And again. And again..."
@Jdzspace: Bad movies can still be memorable. Ask anybody what their favorite thing from ep 7 was, and the response is essentially, "Umm...the special effects? Well, I guess I liked the part that was exactly like that part from the other Star Wars movie..." It's just a nostalgia trip, nothing new to offer. Same characters as the previous movies, same settings as the previous movies, same plot points as the previous movies, same twists and turns as the previous movies. Hopefully 8 has some original content.
@balrogbane: I think The Force Awakens may have a similar career trajectory to Avatar. Come out to rave reviews and massive box office showings, show good staying power despite criticisms popping up, and then fade out of the cultural consciousness to the point where if you ask anybody about it, all they can say is, "Yeah, I saw it. I remember...blue people? Guess the 3D looked pretty cool. Maybe. Don't recall too much about it now." Of course, the difference is that Avatar 2 is still vaporware 6 years out, while Disney is committed to hitting us with a new Star Wars every single year for the foreseeable future. And in the end, the legacy of The Force Awakens will mostly depend what follows. A generation from now, it will either be seen as the bridge to a new generation of Star Wars films that surpass it in impact and importance, or else as the first salvo in a wave of crassly commercialistic cash grabs that only tarnish the series with each new mass-produced installment. Time will tell. But if the series doesn't get better, then we could be looking at an ASM-2 / or Star Trek: Stupid Subtitle scenario.
@gottago42: It's not fair to call Force Awakens a remake of A New Hope. It copies elements from all the Star Wars movies, even the prequels. But that's the case with every Abrams/Bad Robot movie or show. He doesn't do original. He does lazily written but shiny and polished rehashes of other people's ideas.
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