Can't upload tmp file / file uploads won't work - file-upload

Question

I just switched to a dedicated server. All of the sudden I can't upload files. My best guess because the tmp file isn't getting uploaded? Each time I try to do move_uploaded_file('tmp','new_image'); I get permission denied and failed to open stream.
I changed nothing in the script; but the absolute path obviously. Also, all file permissions are set to 705. I think it's something to do with the php.ini where the tmp files aren't working... I no longer have the default php.ini from shared hosting. Any ideas what might be causing this? Thank you
Here's my php.ini
extension_dir = ./
upload_tmp_dir = ./tmp
-- more but not relevant
`Warning: move_uploaded_file(users/126/question_images/question mark.jpeg): failed to open` stream:
Here's the permission denied error
Permission denied in ---.php on line 115 Warning: move_uploaded_file():
Here's the other error
Unable to move '/tmp/phpVrkytD' to '---.jpeg' in .---.php on line 115
Here's the part of the script to upload the image
$long_image_loc = 'absolute_path/'.$image_name;
if(move_uploaded_file($image_tmp_name, $long_image_loc) === true) {
return true;
}
This worked worked perfect on shared hosting. It's a really straight forward image upload script.