The whole passage of time mistake gets to me - it does appear that Gandalf goes off down the road to the library and is back a day or so later, just in time to surprise Frodo coming back from the pub. Funnily enough, chatter in the pub has been about odd goings on which only serves to deepen the time confusion for non-readers. Maybe this was done so that they would not have to put make up on the actors playing the Hobbits so they would appear older; the cynic in me starts thinking about how keen they must have been to get Elijah and his youthful good lucks into the film.
Still, it's not too big a deal. What really does seem confusing to me is that the Ringwraiths seem to be in The Shire and being told of the whereabouts of the Bagginses while Frodo is still at Bag End. If the Ringwraiths had got that far into The Shire, and if they were getting directions, it would take them a matter of hours to find Frodo. That has always seemed odd to me.
As to the Ring being made to appear as a 'character' in the film, well it can appear so in these scenes. But as one of those readers who tends not to view it as a sentient 'thingie' I can also see in the film how this object has been made to appear sentient. The film scenes can be read two ways. Quite obviously we can read the Ring as sentient in these scenes, but it can also be viewed as being built up to appear that way by Gandalf. He impresses upon Frodo the nature of this object, and he impresses how dangerous it is, which is only emphasised by his refusal of it. All of this serves to impress upon a small Hobbit that he is in possession of something pretty nasty. I actually like the way that this can work both ways.