Wait. TLJ was review bombed on Rotten Tomatoes? I'm shocked! Shocked!!
Sure it's a divisive film, but even without the knowledge it was review bombed RT user scores (nor critical consensus) is never really an argument for or against a movie. If you love or hate a movie, you should be able to argue why based on the context or artistry of the movie. If you need to drag RT into a discussion, it's mainly for self-confirmation purposes.
Switch TFA with AOTC and you've got yourself the best list I've seen
I'll tell you what I loved about TPM. The combat and lightsaber duels were on point, and Darth Mail had a fitting death sequence. The actual death of Qui Gon had more weight than Luke's weird fade out suicide. the pod racing was fun and not a random diversion like the space casino race. The cast was great and I love kid version of Anakin simply based on how badly Hayden Christiansen butchered the character later.
The bad parts about TPM are what everyone knows, Jar Jar, some weird dialogue and over abundance of CG. TPM doesn't have the best SW story, but as a prequel it was core to the characters we already knew from the OT. Obi wan is great and Ewan did great work. Natalie Portman was a little flat as Queen Amidala, but she did fine imo. I guess I like the cast a lot and I think that the story wasn't perfect, but it was better than TLJ's never-ending-chase-scene and off-kilter pacing. Thats without listing all the things I disliked in TLJ, which are higher than the things I dislike about TPM.
Look I kind of like TPM as it was thé Star Wars movie when I was a kid. And I still enjoy it for what it is today. But I have to challenge you on your comparisons :P
The battles were well choreographed, but are ultimately very empty in the prequels. The whole dual of the fates sequence has no story to it. It's jedi's dancing with a Sith. Only at the end, when Qui-Gon dies and Obi Wan goes apeshit you actually get some resemblance of a story, with a character developing. Both the throne room and Luke vs Kylo have actual storytelling with the action, and for that alone they are way more interesting. TPM's battles are a choreography. TLJ's are a story.
Same goes for the Casino scene compared to the pod race. The pod race is 20 minutes that ultimately serve one plot beat: Anakin being free. It has no story. It tells us exactly what we were told before: Anakin is great at podracing. 20 minutes to just move a bit of plot, without moving the story. Anakin learns shit in the podrace. He doesn't set a single step forward as a character in it. It's 20 minutes of cool action, but ultimately it's a 'random diversion'.
The casino scene actually has a story. It is a an essential part in the character arc of Finn, giving him a new perspective and shaking the beliefs he held up until then. Beliefs that are tested and challenged troughout his subplot by Rose on the one hand, and DJ on the other. It's how he reacts to what he learns and sees in Canto Bight, that show us who he is and who he becomes.
Plotwise it leads to failure, but that isn't the same as being a random diversionat all, as it servers character growth. I would also argue that -unlike what many TLJ critics say- it does advance the plot , as the events in Canto Bight ultimately lead into the FO discovering Holdo's plan.