It's always difficult to separate the overall movie experience from the movie itself.
I'm sure many people have had a bad time at a great movie due to whatever variables of reality were occurring... such as how you felt physically, emotionally or mentally, who you were with, what the rest of the audience was like, etc. The personal experience (if negative) may forever influence the way one views the film.
Conversely, a great time at the theater (or in front of a screen) may make even a mediocre film seem great to the memory.
I've talked about the first time I saw
Star Trek The Motion Picture (1979) which by far has its detractors.
For me it was the first movie I ever went to see with a friend without an adult chaperone on a weekend night just before the holidays (that fact itself set the evening off as one of freewheeling independence & excitement). We were going to see a film created from a TV series (which, at the time, was virtually unprecedented). We were going to see a big budget, sci-fi film with special effects on the big screen! And we were seeing the reunion of the original crew which defied the odds since the TV show had initially been a cancelled, old series, but was now resuscitated, at first by fan letters, and ultimately given new life in motion pictures (another unprecedented factor which added to the whole experience being an almost "historical" event no matter how good or bad the movie turned out to be)!
Although the film may not have been as exciting as I felt it was the first time I saw it, the excitement I felt at that time got attached to my memory of the movie - which is why it's in my list of favorites even after I've read the opinions of others about how "dull," "dreary," and "painfully drawn out" it was. And when I see it again, it brings back memories & feelings of youth and good times.
So, in the end, I'll say one of the most exhilarating movies ever made (to me anyway) is
Die Hard!