Sorry, I wasn't clear about that.

>I love heist flicks in general, just not the old ones.

You've probably seen these, but Le Cercle Rouge, Rififi, The Killing, and The Asphalt Jungle are great. Check 'em out if you haven't.

>I think I like the genre a lot,
>but I'm pretty sure I don't like the old-school film noir
>stuff (anything pre-70s for sure).

Damn, man. I hope you're not saying that without seeing the classics. Touch of Evil, Double Indemnity, Out of the Past, Maltese Falcon, etc. - no good?

>Hitchcock - I haven't seen much - just Psycho and The Birds. I
>didn't like Psycho and thought it was really overrated. I
>don't really remember The Birds, but I think I liked it okay
>for an old movie. I'm pretty sure I won't like Hitchcock
>movies given the time period.

North By Northwest and Strangers on a Train. The only "hope" I think you have for digging a Hitchcock.

>There's something about those older movies that just doesn't
>appeal to me. Maybe it's the acting (which in many cases,
>would be called overacting today), maybe it's the style, maybe
>the pacing? Possibly a combination of all of the above.

Really, though, there are actors and actresses that are pretty "realistic" (i.e., not overacting) by today's standards in that time period. Hackman, Pacino, De Niro, Hoffman, etc. were doing great work pre-76. Brando, Mitchum and Holden (among many) if you go further back.

>Generally I want my movies to have good plots, good characters, good pacing, and good style... maybe in that order.

Just my opinion, but lots of movies pre-76 have those characteristics.

The plotting and narratives of today's Hollywood films continue the tradition of classical plot and narrative that started in the mid-/late teens.

It's true that the further you go back that the pace of films decrease, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I don't want all songs to have the same tempo or BPMs. It's all subjective, I know. On the flip side, one can say today's movies are too fast which is also not a bad thing fundamentally.

>PS - I'm not trying to be deliberately dismissive of old
>movies - it's just been my experience that I rarely enjoy most
>movies made before 1976 or so, so I don't bother watching them
>anymore.

Preferences are preferences. Though out of curiosity, what pre-76 movies did you enjoy?