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A couple of things worth nothing re: writing, directing, acting and character interactions in the new trilogy and the old one:
1) For a writer and a director, George Lucas is an excellent special effects supervisor and cinematographer. He can set up a scene visually, but his directorial approach when it comes to actors tends to be completely hands-off, leaving it to the actors to interpret characters as they see fit. If you're not an actor that works well without guidance, you're going to blow in a Lucas movie. Some directors, such as Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard, do well with kids and young actors. Lucas works better with seasoned actors who don't need much guidance - Harrison Ford's performance as Han Solo seemed effortless because it *was* effortless. He didn't need Lucas telling him how to be arrogant or conflicted. And how much coaching do you think veterans like Peter Cushing and Alec Guiness would need as Moff Tarkin or Ben Kenobi? But Carrie Fisher, young and inexperienced at the time, kept bouncing around in her performance as Leia (at least in the first movie), using a clipped British-esque accent part of the time and a plunky midwestern-ish twang the rest of the time. Lucas just doesn't do enough to guide his younger actors, and - as of late - relies too much on the special effects to carry his stories.
2) The best writing in Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back didn't even come from Lucas - it came from people like screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan (who wrote the script for Raiders of the Lost Ark) and other gifted writers who worked with Lucas. And Empire Strikes Back, arguably the best of the first trilogy, wasn't directed by Lucas. It was directed by Irv Kirshner and written by the late Leigh Brackett and Kasdan.
Those things said: I enjoyed the chase scene on Coruscant and the chase scene through the asteroid field near Geonosis. I enjoyed Christopher Lee. I liked Yoda's fight scene, not so much because he was zooming about with his Lightsaber Jr., but because when he got finished and people started wandering back in, he immediately resumed his deceptive hobbling act. Loved that touch. I hated Threepio's dumb puns during the arena fight. I hated the love story between Padme and Anakin - it felt forced in so many ways. I enjoyed the pacing of the final confrontation, but thought more than a few things were silly, such as: Yoda's great idea to fire on the closest Trade Federation ship, thus dropping it on top of his own cavalry and stirring up a whole mess o' war fog.
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