What movie did you just watch?

[puggsoy]

Well your point about not being interested is also a factor probably. They could also just be bad films in that sense, but I mean the same goes for PotC too: the story is so vague and only touched upon every now and again (sometimes I doubt there even is one), yet each film is individually good and (relatively) follow-able.

As for LotR, that is pretty easy to follow, but then again the story is pretty simple and doesn't have many twists or significant intricacies. The books, on the other hand, are actually more difficult to keep track of, or at least stay interested in, especially when it comes to the second book (which I stopped with halfway through). Honestly, sometimes it can spend an entire chapter describing a hill and only have one sentence of dialogue.
(This is not including The Hobbit of course, in which they arrive in Rivendell in like 2 chapters. I read that first as well so I was probably overwhelmed by the LotR books.)

Anyway I think it probably comes down to how interested you are in a film's story (and consequentially how much you think about it and discuss it with others) which defines how easily you can keep track of it. Obviously how the film portrays it also counts but it's not the only factor.