or maybe the opinion you thought was so ridiculous that nobody would ever seriously hold it isn’t as ridiculous as you thought and you need to get some perspective
the objective definition of garbage fire is literal refuse that is aflame. the sequel trilogies are movies, not quickly-oxidizing litter. the phrase can be used subjectively to describe the percieved quality of something, which is what you’re doing here. if you’re going to pedant at least do it right.
FUCKING THANK YOU, there was nothing wrong with or continuity-breaking about the Holdo Maneuver, or most of the things in TLJ people love to bitch about (like Leia’s spacewalk which was pretty consistent with IRL zero-g physics and the character’s established force-sensitivity as well as being a breathtaking cinematic moment) are either conflicts with their personal headcanon (people really be getting mad about the fine points of high-dimensional travel in a cheesy movie franchise about mystical space wizards and writing essays about it and shit) or are not any worse than similar issues the OT itself (ESB has some serious issues with wonky timelines for example). The pacing isn’t great in places but nothing is so jarring as to interfere with my willing suspension of disbelief, and the story didn’t feel beat-for-beat the same as basically the rest of the franchise. TLJ was a breath of fresh air, it’s weird to me how divisive it is despite being one of the higher points in the franchise IMO.
That said, AotC at least had the neat space-opera-noir thing for part of it where Obi-Wan was playing detective, I can’t think of anything redeeming about Rise of Skywalker.
I’m a bit younger than you but I grew up with the '95 box set and saw the PT in theaters, similar experience, and I agree with your assessment of TFA, it’s not great but has its moments. Personally I really liked TLJ despite its flaws and it made me hope the series was finally about to go somewhere new. But yeah don’t bother with RoS, it’s a disjointed mess of a film made of IRL petty grudges played out on screen strung together with lame maguffin storytelling and “plot twists” from left field.