I was watching some old movies (Namely "Three Days of the Condor" - essentially a 1970s equivalent of the Bourne Trilogy) with my uncle the other day, movies - circa 1970s and earlier - and I noticed a difference between movies of this age, and movies back then:

Older movies are quieter. In that, you'll have actors acting out whatever they need to, and you only hear the sounds of what their working with. Every so often, a soundtrack might queue in, or maybe you'll get just a few notes, or a single chord of music synced with the action, but for the most part, what you heard was what was going on, on screen. It's like you're really watching something as it's going on. You actually have to watch what they're doing in order to figure out what it is they're doing.

Contrast with movies of our present day, and there's ALWAYS something playing in the background. A soundtrack bombastically plugging away, people talking,
but whatever it is, it's ALWAYS LOUD. What's the deal with that? Movie producers think people these days all have ADHD, and always need some sort of sound
or visual queue that permanently keeps the audience's attention? That, and in scenes like what I mentioned above, the protagonist might think aloud what they're trying to do, e.g., "I HAVE to find that promissory note, or I'll never be able to prove..." as opposed to letting you figure it out for yourself.

That's all what I said to my uncle, who completely agreed with me. What's your stance on the subject?

A lot of older movies also had "wall to wall" music....it was just back then they didn't feel the need to bomb you with sound, so it was often quite restrained.

I saw a movie made in 1582. Boy, now that is old. They didn't even bother with special effects or stunt doubles. In fact, didn't even use a damned camera (didn't have one). But they sure made a hell of a movie.

I hate CG. It takes all the scariness out of horror movies. Can you believe how crappy it would look if they made another Aliens movie with CG? (not that hollywood would ever do that,, they'd rather just remake the originals). The only scary part would be seeing mid-50's sigourney weaver up close in hi-def...

Dynamic volume drives me crazy. An awful lot of movies these days will transition from actors mumbling barely audibly to THUNDERING TRAINS BARRELING DOWN A TUNNEL (as an example) without warning, a problem exacerbated by the volume most theaters use lately. I didn't dare go to see the films I did this year without stuffing my ears with tissue first.

As far as quality of the films themselves? It's not as though excellence is limited to a particular era; I've seen as many bad oldies as solid ones (a pox on Gone With the Wind and all who would recommend her). Not all latter-day films are as obvious as people often suggest, either, it's probably a side effect of the age of DVD bonuses and commentaries that have exposed too many similar trains of thought.

I will say too many movies these days are overlong, often ruining the story in the process. A History of Violence, for instance, could've ended very well without everything following the shootout with Harris' character.