Sounds like you watched ROTS in the presence of some very immature people, zombie. As for the "I'm not crazy, the rest of you are crazy" I understand what you mean but when the only carping I see about the prequels is either on internet forums or from people who tend to be around my age, then I tend not to put much value in said criticism.

As for awards for direction, I don't think any of the OT films got awards for direction either, did they? How about acting? I don't remember seeing Mark Hammill punching the air when he received an Oscar for delivering such deathless dialogue as "But I was going into Tosche station to pick up some power converters".

thecoloursblend. Sounds like you go to the same cinemas as zombie. I saw each of the prequels twice each - no laughter at any of those serious moments we've been talking about. Sounds like you went to lots of screenings in lots of different places, though. Maybe the audiences with whom I saw the films are not so easily amused. (I have absolutely no idea what "Palpatine's Gollum moment" is.)

As for Titanic, I thought it was a dreadful picture and still do. By the way, one of my favourite ever films is It's A Wonderful Life. Guess how many Oscars that received?