...appearance seem to become dated really fast. And the movies that concentrate on telling a story have the best chance of becoming "timeless."

For example, the movies where they talk about technology, such as saying "this 64 MB computer drive is state of the art" as opposed to just saying "This computer drive..." makes any movie look really dated. They're getting away from the story, and just trying to "wow" the audience by throwing out "current" technological "jargon" to their audience.

Another example was the original Jaws. Spielberg said the mechanical shark had a lot of issues, so he "shot around" it without filming it for most of the movie, keeping the focus on the characters. It turns out that made the movie significantly better, since it took the emphasis off showing the (mechanical) shark in action.

SciFi movies can be the worst, especially those that try to "wow" the audience with their space ship displays and technological prowess. They really become dated very quickly. I don't care how "fresh" movies look at the time, if they aren't keeping their focus on the characters and the story, it will soon fall onto the dustbin of cinematic history IMHO.

Tell the story, and keep the "tech" in the background!