Breakup at a Wedding stars Alison Fyhrie and Miami native Phil Quinaz

When Breakup at a Wedding has its Miami premiere at O Cinema tomorrow night, there may be almost as many Miami natives on screen as in the theater. That's because the director and the star of the comedy are brothers Victor and Philip Quinaz, who are returning home with their debut feature film.

"Born and raised," Vic says proudly. "We grew up in Miami Shores, at 93rd and North Miami Avenue." Vic went to New World, Phil to MAST Academy. Much of their family still lives here, their mother a high school teacher and their dad running the Johnson's Duplicating print shop on Flagler.

"Miami is one of the funniest places on the planet," Vic says, "and it's a part of everything we do."

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via imaxprivatetheatre.com

Miami's movie geeks have plenty of reasons to be proud. This town has a thriving art house theater scene, some of the best film festivals in the country, and increasing numbers of films by locals earning national and worldwide respect. Some pictures even screen here before they debut in New York and L.A. Movies are really getting big in Miami, they'll tell you.

But this is probably not what they had in mind.

Businessweek reports that the first IMAX Home Theater System will be installed in a Miami Beach home later this year. Yes, that's IMAX, as in the giant screen and ear-crushing sound you can usually only get by paying a higher ticket price at certain movie theaters. Now, it can be yours -- as long as you can shell out at least $2 million.

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In This Is the End, Seth Rogen, James Franco, and a handful of other famous funny people find themselves in the middle of the End Times. After the good people of the world ascend into Heaven via a Star Trek-esque blue beam, everyone else -- including pretty much every Hollywood actor you can name -- struggles to survive amid one seriously supernatural disaster.

Though the movie is set in L.A., the landscape of its final days looks a lot like, well, Florida. Here's how this summer's stoner movie proves that the Sunshine State truly is Hell on Earth.

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It's hard in Miami for a film fanatic. Yes, things have gotten exponentially better in recent years, with indie theaters like O Cinema showing rare, experimental, and underground movies every week. But audiences in film capitals like New York and Los Angeles still get most movies weeks or even months before they show up on screens in South Florida.

The Gathr Preview Series is out to change all that.

As we reported earlier, Gathr works with major independent film distributors, including Kino-Lorber Films, Music Box Films, and Focus Features, to bring premiere films to the Miami area ahead of many major cities. And to kick-start its efforts, it's giving away three passes to its next screening -- film festival favorite The Attack -- as well as three month long memberships to Gathr, to Cultist readers.

Find out how to win after the jump.

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Spyderwoman, Spyderwoman: Does Whatever

Dating in Miami is hard enough, even if you aren't a venomous mythical jungle monster who has escaped from a laboratory. But in Spyderwoman, a new movie shot and set in Miami, this is exactly the raw deal faced by Taharai, a half-woman, half-spider (err...spyder?) hybrid from the Amazon.

So if you've always wanted to like "Skinemax," but felt that the plot and the sex scenes would get in the way, have we got the movie for you!

Here's the trailer:

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Terence Nance isn't exactly a household name. But Miami film buffs should recognize his voice from the Miami movie of the year. No, not Pain & Gain -- Borscht Film Festival's Adventures of Christopher Bosh in the Multiverse. Nance voiced Bosh, AKA Star Prince Akilobataar, in the short.

And soon, they'll also know him for An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, Nance's directorial effort that screens at O Cinema this Thursday through Sunday.

Cultist got Nance on the phone while he visited a cousin in his Brooklyn neighborhood, where he admitted to an influence by legendary French director Chris Marker and talked about Bosh's reaction to his homage.

See also:
- Watch Adventures of Christopher Bosh in the Multiverse Online Right This Second
- Chris Bosh Objects to Borscht Film Festival's Adventures of Chris Bosh Film
- Bleeding Palm Responds to Chris Bosh Letter With Animated GIF: "Our Whole Universe is in Danger"

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Ry Greenberg

What's David Lynch's next project? According to screenwriter/filmmaker Alan Greenberg, it's his very own, long-in-limbo script, Love In Vain, inspired by/about blues legend Robert Johnson.

Speaking from his home in Portland, Oregon, in advance of his appearance at Art Center/South Florida in Miami Beach this weekend, the 62-year-old Greenberg broke the news with the casual but excited air of a man who has patience to spare. After all, he has been waiting for this moment for 30 years.

"Years went, and people like Martin Scorsese were signed to do it for Warner Brothers. Then, later, HBO was going to do it. It's the greatest film never made, and now finally, this week, we're closing the deal on the financing, and David's standing by all excited," Greenberg claims.

UPDATE: A spokesperson for Lynch denies any plans are underway. More information after the jump.

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It's guaranteed to top many critics' lists and deserves an Oscar nomination for best screenplay. Frances Ha is the darling breakout indie film of 2013 that only the bitterest critic could loathe. Friday night, at the Coral Gables Art Cinema, the face and soul of that film, Greta Gerwig, will appear via a live Skype Q&A session following that night's 7 p.m. screening. Cinephiles, buy your tickets now.

Besides being the film's star, the 29-year-old Gerwig co-wrote the script with director and boyfriend Noah Baumbach, 43. The movie follows Frances, its lead character, struggling to grow up in a post-college world and an age saturated by a media that perpetuates immaturity. It's a curious collaboration, seeing as Baumbach so aptly captured the same deadlock for his Generation X peers in his brilliant 1995 feature debut Kicking and Screaming. Oh, the questions you could ask...

See also:
- Frances Ha's Greta Gerwig on Lena Dunham, Woody Allen, and Her Dream of Directing
- In Frances Ha, Greta Gerwig Displays Her Colors Like Never Before

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Miami audiences saw Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke at the Borscht Film Festival in 2011. Sundance Film Festival viewers checked it out in 2012. And now, Lucas Leyva and Jillian Mayer have unleashed it on the rest of the world, as part of a series of online film releases that also includes Adventures of Christopher Bosh in the Multiverse.

"Now it is finally finally free for the world to enjoy/respond with racist comments on YouTube," the Borscht Tumblr declares.

See also:
- Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke Makes Waves at Sundance

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Greta Gerwig in Frances Ha

Before this week, the films of New York writer/director Noah Baumbach threatened to pigeonhole him as a grim observer of embittered human behavior. Then the 43-year-old invited 29-year-old actress Greta Gerwig to co-write a script with him. Frances Ha, the result that opens in Miami today, pitches a shimmering curveball into his filmography, most recently known for Ben Stiller's misanthropic turn in Greenberg and Nicole Kidman's cruel mother in Margot at the Wedding. With Frances Ha, Gerwig has brought out in Baumbach a lighter touch that has no equivalent in his oeuvre.

It's easy to understand how it happened. Even speaking over the phone from New York, Gerwig exudes a luminous quality. When she laughs, it takes up both exhale and inhale. One cannot help but wonder if she, who is now Baumbach's girlfriend, had a part in bringing some brightness into his work, but she refuses to take any credit. "It's equal parts him and me, but it's also something we could have only made together," she explains.

See also:
- In Frances Ha, Greta Gerwig Displays Her Colors Like Never Before

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