Regarding Snoke: again, there's nothing wrong with having him be a stepping stool, but revealing some of his backstory is the difference between him being a talking plot device and being a character that serves as a plot device. Indeed, he's dead now...so who cares who he was, where he came from, how he came to power, etc. But in denying the audience that, they pulled the rug out of any kind of build-up that Snoke has as a character. I mean, he was the new Dark Lord, surely they could have had someone say something about how some apparently random guy came to be in full control of the remnants of the Imperial Fleet. But now, instead of making him a character that seres as a plot device, they decided to just straight-up make him a plot device.
Regarding bloodlines: this is one of my lesser issues (I misplaced it in my original list
) as indeed, it's not really a big deal if Rey's parents were just booze-hounds that sold her off for more money to buy booze. The larger issue at play here is the same as the one regarding Snoke's death without a background, though. The Force Awaken setup Snoke as being the new Dark Lord, so there were expectations for him. Similarly, Rey had those flashbacks during TFA that heavily implied that she was indeed the daughter of someone important. If what Kylo says is true, though (and to be fair there's actually not much reason to believe that he's speaking the truth) then all the setup from TFA was completely pointless.
The wasting of things setup during TFA is actually a common occurrence in the movie. Another example of this is how the Knights of Ren are nowhere to be found, despite that flashback where Rey sees Ren and (apparently) his posse of other dark siders in that torrential rain storm.
Regarding shields: the movie is a bit inconsistent with the way the shields are treated in this movie. As I mentioned: the reason they need a code breaker for the "disable the tracking device" plan is because they need a way past the shields on Snoke's ship. If small craft can get past shields (as seen with Poe's X-Wing and Kylo's TIE Fighter), why would they need codes to get past the shields? Another issue with the dreadnought is why bother having the top of the ship completely covered in guns if literally one fighter can take them all out once it gets close enough? Seems like a rather critical design flaw considering that in a big space battle there's bound to be numerous fight-size ships coming at you. But apparently once a single one gets too close then all of the turrets become simultaneously useless.
As I said, my biggest issue with the movie was the fact that the vice admiral doesn't tell anyone what the plan going forward is. She just gives a half-hearted speech about keeping hope alive and that's it. All she would have to do is say "Alright Poe, here's what we're going to do: we're going to keep on cruising out of range of the enemy fleet. We're getting close to a planet that has an old rebel base on it. When we're in range, we'll abandon ship on transports fitted with technology that prevents them from showing up on scanners. The cruiser will keep going as a decoy and we'll all safely land on the planet and from there we can plan our next move." If she says that - or something along those lines, just explaining the plan to Poe - then there's no need for Poe to go behind her back and send Finn and Rose off to the casino planet. If they never go there, then DJ never gets involved and the Stealth Transport plan goes off without a hitch because DJ isn't there to sell out the Resistance. So yeah, the biggest plothole in the movie is that the entire 2nd half of it doesn't need to happen if the vice admiral simply told everyone what the plan was. But she doesn't, and the only reason she doesn't is because the plot demanded that she didn't.
Onto the positive: again, I do agree that the spectacle of the movie was fantastic, particularly the hyperspace kamikaze. That part was indeed a very awesome sight. I've got no issue with any of the action sequences as I thought they were top-notch, and they're why I still say this movie was fun and entertaining to watch. I just really don't think that they handled the story well at all.
Regarding Yoda: this is one of the things I actually give props to the movie for. There seems to be some confusion around whether or not he was CGI or a puppet. To me it looked like they had a puppet that they put a CGI glow around since he was a Force Ghost, and if that's the case then I really appreciate them going with a practical effect rather than making him entirely out of CGI like the prequels.
As for why he burns down the tree himself when Luke hesitates, my guess is because he knows that being a Jedi is an ideal. The ancient Jedi texts are a nice symbol, but they're completely unnecessary. He even goes so far as to mock them: "Page turners, they are not." He's apparently read them and found them to be just a bunch of philosophical mumbo-jumbo. When you boil everything down, being a Jedi is simply being a vessel for the light side of the Force. Be a good and decent person, help those who are in need, protect the innocent, etc etc. You don't need ancient tomes to tell you that. So long as you're trying to spread the light to the galaxy then you're doing fine. Whether or not he knew that the books weren't in the tree anymore is hard to say. In the end, I think he was simply trying to motivate Luke into actually doing something to help the Resistance.
.........which does bring up another plothole/dropped thread from TFA. Luke left that trail of map pieces so that the resistance could find him should the dire need arise. It was a promise that he would come back and help when they needed him the most. Yet when Rey shows up, he staunchly refuses to help, and even says that he specifically went to that island so that he could die in peace. If that was the case...why the fuck would he leave behind a map that leads right to him?
