Anita Briem Movies
Icelandic actress Anita Briem grew up in her native country as the daughter of two musicians (a vocalist and a percussionist), and reportedly turned to acting well before the age of ten, tackling numerous stage roles, radio voice-overs, dramatic parts on television, and a host of other assignments. By all accounts a prodigy with a heightened degree of initiative, Briem moved to England at the age of 16 to begin classical training in theater; by the age of 19, she landed a prestigious three-year enrollment at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. The actress subsequently retained an emphasis on stage work, in productions including Losing Louis and Catalogue of Misunderstanding, then moved into British television (with guest bits on Doctor Who and The Doctors), and finally, embarked on a career in theatrically released features. Her assignments in that venue included Luis de la Madrid's grisly, low-budget horror vehicle The Nun and the Eric Brevig-directed special-effects extravaganza Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D (2008). Briem was also a main character on the short-lived ABC legal drama The Evidence (2006), but she gained much more small-screen exposure a couple years later when she was cast as Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry VIII, in the second season of the popular Showtime historical drama The Tudors. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
The ten-episode second season (2008) of Showtime's hit series The Tudors picks up the tale with King Henry VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) making his break from the Roman Catholic Church and establishing the Church of England, with himself as its head. Central plot points include Henry's dismissal of Katherine of Aragon (Maria Doyle Kennedy) as his queen; his marriage to Anne Boleyn (Natalie Dormer), who gives birth to Elizabeth; and his confrontations with Sir Thomas More (Jeremy Northam) and Bishop Fisher (Bosco Hogan), who are charged with treason for questioning Henry's rejection of papal authority.
- Starring:
- Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, James Frain, (more)
- 2008
- PG
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Academy Award-winning visual effects artist Eric Brevig makes his feature directorial debut with this adaptation of the classic Jules Verne fantasy starring Brendan Fraser. When an ambitious science professor (Fraser) develops a decidedly unconventional hypothesis, the mere mention of his name is enough to elicit laughter within the academic community. However, during a subsequent excursion to Iceland, the professor and his nephew make a major scientific discovery that sends them miles beneath the surface of the Earth, where they discover not only strange new worlds, but also encounter creatures so alien they appear to be from another world entirely. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brendan Fraser, Anita Briem, (more)
- 2006
When an ambulance chasing tabloid reporter travels deep into the highlands of Iceland to investigate the death of a power station security guard, he quickly discovers that he isolated locals don't take kindly to strangers. Baldur is well known by his colleagues for his dogged reporting skills, but when he first hears the story of a security guard who died under semi-mysterious circumstances he suspects that there isn't much there to keep his readers glued to the page. When his mother reveals that the security guard in question was the father he never met, however, Baldue sets out to get to the bottom of the story against the vehement objections of his editor. Upon arriving at the power station posing as the new security guard, the writer quickly discovers that he will have an amazing story to tell if he can only manage to get out alive. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Throstur Leo Gunnarsson, Elva Ósk Ólafsdóttir, (more)
- 2006
The gimmick of the ABC procedural drama The Evidence was established at the beginning of each hour-long episode. It was explained via a videotaped police log that a murder had been committed, and that several clues were left behind by the unknown killer. As the camera froze on each clue, the viewer was treated to a flashback, placing that clue in context of the crime. Thus, the characters onscreen virtually competed against the viewers at home as to who would solve the mystery first. Orlando Jones and Rob Estes headed the cast as San Francisco police detectives Cayman Bishop and Sean Cole, who punctuated each investigation with kidding-on-the-square insults and clever quips, à la Robert Culp and Bill Cosby on the old spy series I Spy. Other regulars included Martin Landau as medical examiner Dr. Sol Goldman and Anita Briem as investigator Emily Stevens. The "backstories" of each character were revealed on a "need to know" basis in the course of each episode, showing how their personal experiences colored the direction of the investigation (much air time was devoted to the death of the wife of Sean Cole). Created by Sam Baum and Dustin Thomason, The Evidence made its network bow on March 22, 2006, only to be placed on hiatus after three episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Orlando Jones, Rob Estes, (more)
Fantastic Factory presents another spooky Spanish horror tale with The Nun, a pseudo-slasher ghost story that finds an evil water-nymph nun seeking vengeance against her murderers from years before. Before her disappearance, Sister Úrsula was highly feared in her boarding school. Often tormenting her students with her own brand of extreme religious zealotry, this nightmarish nun was deathly strict with her code of ethics. When one of her 15-year-old pupils is found to be pregnant, the nun forces her into a dangerous spiritual cleansing that ends in tragedy when the girl's five classmates break up the torture session and inadvertently kill Úrsula in the process. Upon the reopening of the school almost 20 years later, two of the group's survivors end up dead, which forces the rest of the old friends to face their own demons over what happened that fateful night. With the help of the now-teenaged daughter of the original student, the group confronts the very thing that haunts their dreams and forever links them together in hushed silence. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anita Briem, Belen Blanco, (more)
