I always assume no one reads what I write. While I was addressing you my comments were mostly for myself. So there was some arguing going on between me as well, lol...

Passion is one of my favorite films and outside of scribbles in a notebook somewhere I've never really written anything about it. So this was my excuse.

I think it's fine to compare films, even Transformers: Age of Extinction and Passion. But I think that this is only possible for films when you look at the techniques being used and then what comes out of this thematically. For example I enjoy comparing aspects of Antonioni's films with Dino Crisis 2, the PSone Resident Evil, Mann's Blackhat, and Bay's Bad Boy 2. I probably lean towards technique more than theme in these cases so it is a preference for me when criticizing what I see and hear.

Part of it is a defect with me.

There is no defect in you. Perhaps you saw the film at the wrong moment. I understand that the Passion has a certain reputation with its visuals that is not true. That it is possible to see the film in that way because I have. My mom made me watch some of this with her when I was a kid and I remember crying because she forced me to watch it. Maybe watching it by yourself when you're tired from work effects its power, or in a classroom where the professor decides to leave the light on while you look at a girl you want to fall in love with. I don't know...

If you're interested in silent films one I would suggest is Moebius (I try to mention it whenever I post on this board). It is a recent film, it is in color and contains sound. But there is no dialogue. It's very entertaining and true to the spirit of silent cinema. I don't want to give anything away.

Bringing up Sunrise again, Ebert points out some masterful camerawork

I think this is part of why I don't care much for Sunrise. It depends on techniques that are common today. It's a silent film more interested in what the camera can do than what the bodies shown are capable of. It feels less human as a result. It's hard for me to connect. The result is a film that depends on you realizing how incredible a shot is. And it's incredible for its time and I understand that but I don't care. Everything else about it is forgettable. Probably the same fate as Gravity someday, spectacle does not hold.