[Contains minor spoilers]
Whenever I see one of those new Star Wars movies, I always get some odd feelings or vibes from some scenes. In TFA it was the Han Solo scenes on the freighter with rathtars and the gangs. In TLJ, it's the Canto Blite casino planet and the related scenes. Now, those scenes have flaws obviously, almost nothing is perfect in those movies (or the old ones), but most of this odd feeling comes from seeing those gangs we've never heard of, those millenials playing thugs, odd unknown species on the casino planet (which we have also never heard of before). It feels off, it doesn't feel like Star Wars.
I've thought about it and I think it stems from the fact that it's new, and Star Wars fans don't like things that are new, to quote Plinkett. Star Wars has been for many years now this comfortably established mythos where every minute detail, every background character is known, features in video games, novels, comics... Everything is described in excruciating detail in encyclopedias, wiki pages... It's become a bit like Tolkien mythos, where everything that ever was and will be has already been written and analyzed and you cannot include something new without it seeming derivative or feeling off-key.
This new trilogy treaded familiar paths in TFA and was criticized for relying too heavily on the old movies, though it also established a few new things, and TLJ continues this trend of going into new directions (with still a few callbacks). It might be time for some of us to re-evaluate whether we like Star Wars for what it is and don't need anything more to it, or for what it is and could yet be, and appreciate new ideas, new directions, fresh blood being pumped into it.
Now obviously it doesn't mean that every new idea is going to be good, every direction should be explored and every good idea is going to be well-executed.
We still have the right to dislike how something was handled, told, shown or explained, or lack thereof.
But when I hear things like people complaining that we are never explained who Snoke is/was, well I find it a bit odd because we also new nothing about the Emperor in ESB/ROTJ. All we knew is he ruled the Empire, we had no idea how he came to power, who he was before, his name, his abilities, his motives. We knew he was evil because he looked evil. So does Snoke. We only learned the Emperor was Palpatine in supplemental content (trading cards, novelizations...), we only learned about his past in 1999 and beyond with the prequel trilogy.
Things that are new should be taken as new things, they won't come with fully developped wikia pages and a brochure to tell you every detail, that's going to be filled in years to come, in prequels to the sequels (bet we'll see that someday), maybe a spinoff dedicated to Snoke or the Academy's destruction and fall of Luke as promising Jedi Master.
Anyway, TL;DR for some, but this isn't even meant to defend TLJ, it stands on its own, it's entertaining, some will enjoy it others will hate it and others yet (like me) will love some parts and will be more "meh" about a few others. But reading this thread made me think on the subject and I wanted to share my thoughts.