I wasn't saying you were criticizing the cinematography overall, but I was very impressed with it. Abrams has grown a lot as a filmmaker and some of those scenes we're talking about are in my opinion the best shots in the series, at least rivaling ESB. It had a more theatrical vibe than earlier Abrams stuff, which was pretty solid but you could tell he came from TV roots on stuff like Mission 3. With Super 8 he started to mature but it was trying too much to (purposefully) imitate Spielberg. And that's not a criticism at Super 8, I actually really like it, but it's true.
TFA feels to me like the first film of his with a lot of visual depth. His Star Trek movies were pretty well shot and looked good, but they all have this clean look. Which I'm not against specifically, but it was something I was slightly worried about with this movie but no, it... actually looked like a film. Not that his others don't, just, this one far more so.
Right. And some shots (particularly the indoor scenes) still have SOME of the cleanliness, but it's very VERY subtle. Enough to notice, but upon multiple views, it starts to diminish.