New Port South

this movie is a masterpiece made by one time movie genius john hughes. it is about 3 high school students who rebel against the school system who is not letting them think for themselves. leader maddox (blake shields) turns sour towards the end of the film when he realises he dosent even have a real motive for rebelling. i give it 9/10

New Port South is the kind of movie you have to see for yourself. I know that if it had been marketed more, it would have been A LOT more successful. When my friend and I went to see it, there were only four people in the theater. We're 14 year old girls, the other two were a middle-aged couple. (The older couple didn't like it too much.) The man even went as far as to say, "Now I know why there were only four people here..." I completely disagree with him. I loved the movie, it was very thought-provoking, and I didn't understand it until the ending quote. It's basically about a group of students who decides that their school system isn't right, so they go against it, playing tricks and showing the administration that the school population can think for themselves. Any student can definitely relate to New Port South because every once in a while, every student feels like getting back at "the system."

I really enjoy teen rebellion movies and have studied quite a lot of them this year for my A-Level media studies class. Although this was not one of my syllabus movies i saw it on T.v one night and thought it was really cleverly made and hugely under-rated. I mean, yeah, there have been a lot of these genre of movies made but this is different and contains other art forms within the movie, I mean how creative were those posters? Well I have told a lot of people about it and they have said it is really good so maybe it is young person thing, as I would say this film is directed for a teenage audience, but I would also say that if you are very big into films then you would have the knowledge to say whether it has been made well or not. I have Lent the DVD to my media lecturer so when he tells me what he thinks I will comment again. Peace.

The thing about New Port South is that it has kinda a cool build up but just lets if fall over in the end. Its like if you work really hard and save up money for your girlfriends Christmas present and she finds out your saving money so you say 'ah.... never mind Christmas'. If you have seen it, you know what I mean. The soundtrack is the computer- electric drum type thing which sounds like it was almost on a Linkin Park cd. The acting was OK, and again the story was neat but loose ends and actors that haven't been in a high school since Ace of Base had a hit make me wish that John Hughes talked to his son (??) about how to end a high school movie and then did the exact opposite.

"John Hughes' son wrote a high school drama! Wow!" I thought as I checked the flick's info here on IMDb, late on a Saturday night, having found myself watching the opening credits on BBC2.

I've just finished watching it, and sadly it was downhill from there on. Arguably you can't spoil a film this poor, but I'll leave the spoilers out of this review...

There's an awful lot of style over very little substance: unfortunately the style hasn't dated too well in the eight years since its release. As for the substance, the film tries to pose an interesting look at the nature of control in society through the microcosm of school-life; but beneath the shiny veneer, a remotely meaningful or relevant argument fails to materialise. Characters are painted in childishly broad strokes, falling into the kind of generic stereotypes the writer's father sought to question in Breakfast Club.

Director Kyle Cooper does a decent job keeping the pace up (perhaps relying a little too much on montages of information, which soon becomes a tiresome device, but at least pushes the story along), but his efforts don't sufficiently detract from the poor script and bizarre casting (how anyone is supposed to side with 'Maddox', when Blake Shields gurns and glowers his way through the part, I just can't understand), not to mention the numerous gaping plot holes (I'm all for creative license, but when the "bad guys" know the identities of the "good guys" making their lives a misery, but fail to act in any way to stop them, you really have to wonder why this script didn't undergo another few re-drafts before production - did Daddy even read it?).

I'm sure a younger audience might get some enjoyment from this film (and all power to them), but they're really better off sticking with Hughes Sr.'s high school output, and if the idea of school-time rebellion is what really appeals, the 1968 classic "If..." is a much more satisfying examination of the subject.