re: Ranking all the Star Wars films--what say you?

I've really come around on the original. I've always been an Empire guy, like most people, but after a rewatch I really appreciate the economical storytelling and worldbuilding. It's just such a terrifically crafted movie. Sure, it blatantly rips of Kurosawa and the hero's quest, but.. good things to rip off. And it makes them its own.

1. Star Wars
2. Empire Strikes Back
3. The Last Jedi
4. Rogue One
5. The Force Awakens
6. Return of the Jedi
7. Revenge of the Sith
8. Phantom Menace
9. Attack of the Clones

I haven't seen Solo yet. I think The Last Jedi is the great disruptor film, which is exactly what Empire is and why people love it, but it came 40 years later and we don't want things disrupted. We want soft comfortable storytelling which is understandable, but uninteresting to me. Blow the universe up, just like Empire did (though there was less mythos to destroy then).

For a series that has gotten so much mileage out of the phrase "from a certain point of view..." it's disconcerting for the fans to be so mad about their point of view being shifted in Last Jedi. It's a genuinely great movie precisely for the reasons people hate it. It tears at the fabric of the universe and upended my expectations. It's the first Star Wars film since Empire to be genuinely surprising and seemingly have real stakes.