And without going through every major nostalgia scene (since I'm on my phone), I think they could have easily pared down all of it-- especially the GMT stuff. Reduce to cameos, try to make those cameos as unforced as possible.

And while I understand from a money perspective why Disney thinks all of these films need to be nostalgia trips, they're fucking Star Wars-- they could make wholly original films that are only tied to the franchise with the Empire vs Rebellion framework and they'd make a billion dollars still. This movie, despite the Death Star framework, still felt mostly original, which is why I mostly enjoyed it-- and why those nostalgia trips were so distracting for me.