oh come on, people. Admit you thought it was cool when Aragorn tells several ships of people that they'll go no further even though he's standing on the shore.
It just changes the cool ghostly appearance from the docks to further up the river. We still need to worry about the army getting there. the only thing that removes the dramatic tension is that you already know they get there on time. Which is something you all knew anyway before you even saw it for the first time.
Plus Gimli finally gets something on Legolas. ANd you all know that prissy elf-boy had it coming.
If you're going to cut them challenging the corsairs, you're going to have to cut out ALL the new stuff after he says "What say you" It makes less narrative sense than the way he's done it to have him dispairing and then have them suddenly appearing. The impression that would give would be "just kidding!"
The Faramir-Eowyn scenes may be weak, but they do at least make the film stronger. It's a heckuva a lot better than they just suddenly being an item for no reason whatsoever at the end of the movie. It's not like they make out at all in those scenes. For all we know they're friends. If guys can kiss in this culture, holding hands hardly seems to make them lovers. But from that we can infer the rest of the change to being together at the end.
As for the mouth of Sauron, I mostly agree. However, he does show them Frodo's mithril shirt, which makes Gandalf, who's already dispirited (I'll quote if you want to, but he does it in Rohan and in Gondor) doubt entirely their ability, and it falls to Aragorn to restore the spirit of everyone, which makes sense, since that's supposed to be his role. It adds to his role entirely.
I can't think of anything that wasn't an improvement, actually, with the possible exception of the drinking contest. It has a good line, but over all just makes me want to slap the smugness off of Orlando Blooms girly head. I don't like how Gimli's nothing but a comic relief in the film instead of someone who contributes as much as the elf.