I wish Kylo kept the mask on the whole time, but I get why he had to take it off, so they could show the emotion on his face during the dad battle where you think he's feeling pity and turning good, to the cold unfeeling stare when he goes through with the stabby stab.
I enjoyed it though. I didn't see it as close to New Hope as you guys did though. Obviously the Jakku/Tatooine paralells and the BB8/R2 10x as big deathstar planet thing are the main things. But the ending on a cliff hanger (literaly ha!) and the mystery surrounding why Rey has all these force powers and fix-it powers, to name a few, make it different enough that I'm not gonna use the remake label.
I look forward to seeing it again next week.
Also, everyone thinks Rey's dad is
right? That's what I gathered. Though seems almost too obvious. Especially after everyone thought Han was her Dad.