Surely you meant not much of a fan of films after 1980! Then again I read yesterday that it was very common for younger film fans to have a very hazy idea of who Cary Grant was, for example. 

I do sympathise with your impatience regarding the technical shortcomings of 'early' films but I would say that 80s films are particularly egregious in this regard - wall to wall power rock on the soundtracks being one feature. Personally I find Terence Malick tedious - he shares the the very contemporary failing of making films that are too slow and far too long (see Tinker, Tailor - or don't if you want to be spared a particularly ponderous example).

From this point of view I'd re-edit rather than remake: be great to see hours shed from those 70s epics: half an hour off the wedding scene would do the The Deer Hunter a lot of good, for example. In fact every director should have the words 100 Minutes Max on the front page of his shooting script