New Port South Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

New Port South Blu-ray Movie Review

A mediocre high-school drama not worth one's time

A teenage drama with considerable angst, New Port South explores a student body that won't sit down and take their notes. Maddox (Blake Shields) is a mad-as-hell high school student who wants to start his own rebellion against the high school teachers and leaders. To take down the authoritarian school, Maddox enlists the help of his best friends Chip (Kevin Christy) and Chris (Will Estes). The trio are determined to make a difference at the school. Produced by legendary writer-director John Hughes (The Breakfast Club).

What instigates the student-body revolution? Maddox wants to take on the entire school faculty and system when he learns of a student who was slapped by a teacher and institutionalized. Angered by the broken system he sees as surrounding him, Maddox creates flyers to hang all around the school ground – the school lockers and the classroom doors.

He creates chaos as his headroom teacher is grumpy with his students and likes to throw a fit. It's showdown time as it becomes a game of students vs. teacher. Ultimately, the head teacher goes to the school principal to argue why the students are so bad to him. Who will come out ahead? Will Maddox learn to calm down?

A teenage drama so disconnected from reality it feels like science fiction.

All set against the backdrop of a pulsating electronic music score and considerable teen angst, New Port South is a feature-film that feels amiss. There is something compelling about the concept of the film. There are many scenes which feel as though the ideas at play at actually compelling for a high-school drama. The screenplay by James Hughes (son of John Hughes) is creative and there are some moments where the genius of James Hughes father can be seen as inspiration to the world-building on display.

Unfortunately, New Port South misfires significantly due to the stilted direction by first-time director Kyle Cooper (in his one and only feature-film directorial credit). The style of direction seems totally out of place within the context of the storytelling at hand. The cinematography by Juan Ruiz Anchia (Spartan, Blackthorn) is bleak and claustrophobic and creates a environment which is so strange and ethereal it feels like its borderline science-fiction. Even the production design by Maher Ahmad (Doctor Sleep, Zombieland) seems to contribute some to the strange dream-like quality of the filmmaking.

While these almost supernatural elements may have been intentional, its aspects like these that detract from the story and make it feel so out-of-touch with reality. The film had promise and may have been considerably more impressive had screenwriter James Hughes taken a gamble and directed it for himself. Who knows what the end result would have looked like then? Perhaps one day Hughes son will give filmmaking another try and the results will be much better than what is found here. New Port South had promise. The unfortunate truth is that the promise is left being unfulfilled.

New Port South Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

New Port South arrives on Blu-ray (for the first time!) from distributor Kino Lorber with a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen. Colors are often muted on the presentation and can appear a bit pasty. The film print does have some grain on the transfer but it's an outdated looking source and does not appear to have been meticulously restored for the Blu-ray presentation.

It clearly is an average-at-best presentation that fails to muster the level of quality presentation the format can offer. While the resolution is notably improved by the high definition debut, the image is never as sharp or dynamic as what viewers will likely be hoping to find. A mediocre, outdated scan that doesn't make much of an impression.

New Port South Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Featuring a lossless 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio surround sound presentation, New Port South is a mostly flat and mundane surround sound experience. The track lacks the kind of gusto necessary to make more of an impression on viewers. While there are a few scenes which utilize the surrounds for ambiance for the electronic music score, the overall results are decidedly mediocre.

Bass reproduction on this presentation is never that impressive either and sounds merely a step above average in quality. There is nothing extraordinary about the New Port South sound mix. On a more positive note regarding the audio encode, dialogue reproduction is excellent and vocals are easy to understand. Optional English subtitles are provided.

New Port South Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, there are no extensive behind-the-scenes supplemental features to be found on the release whatsoever and as such there is no information regarding the production of the film and the involvement of legendary producer John Hughes. It would have been nice to see some actual insights given into the development of the story considering the fact that Hughes son wrote the screenplay.

The extras are slim:

New Port South Theatrical Trailer (SD, 1:11)

The release does contain some theatrical trailers for other releases from distributor Kino Lorber: Gone Fishin' (SD, 2:12), Holy Man (SD, 1:53), and Mr. Wrong (SD, 1:50).

New Port South Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bristling with teenage angst, New Port South is an experiment gone awry. The screenplay demonstrated considerable potential but the dream-like direction by Kyle Cooper feels more like science-fiction than real drama. The performances are often over-the-top and the end result is a misfire. The Blu-ray release features average picture-quality but a strong audio presentation. Fans might want to consider picking it up but everyone else should rent it first.