Rating: 
Summary: easy to judge......
Review: .....the writer when you're not in his shoes. Sure, he wrote it to make money (how many of us are pious enough to say that we don't do the things we do for money), and timed it's release after his death so as to maximize it's comercial appeal. I am a lover of Kubrick films, but I have no reverence for the man, unlike many out there in the cinematic world who hold him as their Jesus. Kubrick wanted absolute control of all the minutae in his life, and I'm sure that is why the family doesn't approve......the book is a frank, honest recalling of Rapheals encounter with a man that many of us desire to understand, and very few of us do. Raphael gives us what we want, and we complain, and call it "inappropriate". He never betrayed Kubrick's trust, while he was living....and what does that matter now? This is one of the only books out there that was written by somebody who actually knew the man, and there is definately something to be said for that. As for the writing style, I thought it was the best part about the book; to depict the writing of a screenplay in screenplay format, and mixing it with traditional book format. He tells the events without hyperbole, and with a certain non-judgemential subtlety, often revealing his own foibles, as well as Kubrick's. The cover presentation was a bit confusing for me also, but quickly solved by reading a few pages before I bought the book! In this age with services like Amazon, there is no excuse for not knowing what a book is about before you buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Searching for Stanley Kubrick
Review: After being enthralled with Kubrick's last movie, Eyes Wide Shut, I found myself searching out more on this man and his art. Raphael's book has been the biggest disappointment of the literature I have read to date. There is not enough substance to this book to refer to it as a memoir. Raphael has various notes and transcripts with Kubrick but they offer little information to the process which Kubrick worked. It seems that one of those methods is to keep his screenwriter off balance; Raphael becomes almost paranoid as to Kubrick's intentions. As to insight to the opinions of Kubrick, what Raphael offers from his conversations with the director are so off the cuff in nature that they may be only taken with a grain of salt. Raphael in the end offers us only a book about his feelings; a memoir of how he wanted things to be. A memoir of Stanley Kubrick this is not. For those looking into the art of Kubrick, you will find several books available here at Amazon...
Rating: 
Summary: ambiguity
Review: All of the reviews are correct, just as they are equally incorrect. Yes, Raphael is an intellectual egotist -- the book is slight, and undoubtably exists to make money off of "Eyes Wide Shut." However, like Kubrick's films, he doesn't dwell on the machinations of why this character is the way he is. He shows instead of tells. There are a few journal entries that attempt to probe Kubrick's personality, though much can actually be learned by observing the things he does and says. For example, check out his repetitions of certain greetings, or even his thoughts regarding Schindler's List. This is undoubtably the closest inside account of Kubrick's work method. As a book, though, it's a quick read.
Rating: 
Summary: Surprise surprise... Kubrick was HUMAN!
Review: An intriguing, touching, somewhat slap-dash recollection of working under the watchful eye of a flawed taskmaster possessed of an ephemeral (yet somehow undeniable) genius. You learn more about Raphael than you do about Kubrick, but they're both pretty damn intriguing. A must-buy at twice the price!
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece !
Review: anyone who has ever enjoyed the films of Stanley Kubrick should buy this book . It provides insights into what he was thinking .
Rating:
Summary: Let's go about this the right way
Review: Being a long time fan of the genius that is Stanley Kubrick, I could hardly wait for the chance to gain an insightful view into what makes him 'tick'. While this book offers very little insight into the man, it does portray the process of how the screenplay adaptation of eyes wide shut came about. Keeping in mind that this was probably the most financially motivated 'memior' there ever was,it still does offer some few interesting insights. Probably not enough to justify the price (Canadian, but for those of you who would enjoy learming about the process that happened before the release of Eyes Wide Shut.
Rating:
Summary: A rare but shameless look into the great director
Review: Despite that Frederic Raphael wrote this to cash in on the opening of Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick's final (and some believe unfinished) film, it's still a guilty pleasure since it affords a point of view absent from the legion of Kubrick books that appeared before and after the director's death.Maybe it's a sign of respect for the working relationship that some of Kubrick's other collaborators had that they never went ahead and told all, but in the end this book will attract the Kubrick fan who isn't always willing to accept the man as omnipotent myth maker. Eyes Wide Open does become as much about Raphael as Kubrick (if not more) but it still works to paint Kubrick as human, something that reams of analysis, criticism and speculation consistently fail to highlight. Rather than fawning on Kubrick over the slim length of the book, Raphael continually reminds all that HE himself is an intellectual, blah blah blah, and the tone becomes hard to bear. It's not particularly cohesive or earth shattering, and the conversations that appear in transcript-like form work to put words in the director's mouth. However, it's still valuable in that it offers a rare glimpse into working with the elusive Kubrick. I would take this with a grain of salt, and Kubrick's family did not appreciate this effort in the least, denouncing it on their website. It may still be of interest to people who want an inside view (albeit skewed) that the many tomes dedicated to breaking down Kubrick's small but mighty canon of films don't bring to the table. But be warned: with Kubrick gone, it's Raphael who tries to get in the last word...
Rating:
Summary: EYES HALF SHUT
Review: Despite the rather mercenary nature of this book, I feel as if I've gained insight into the creative process of the cinema elite. Two egos dance awkwardly with each other in an attempt to further their own causes. It has the ring of truth despite the elaborate conversation reconstructions which mislead the reader into believing he is experiencing an actual transcript.
Rating:
Summary: Is Frederic Raphael always this high and mighty?
Review: Eyes Wide Open was a suprisingly quick read. There is not much to speak of in these memoirs since Frederic Raphael mostly talked on the phone with Stanley Kubrick and communicated with faxes. I would have expected perhaps some stories from the set of Eyes Wide Shut, but I was very, very wrong. The book is mostly about how Raphael had to put up with odd requests and deadlines from Kubrick whilst writing the screenplay for Eyes Wide Shut. The most eventful part of the book is when he meets the famed director for the first time at his secluded England home. Aside from that, Raphael talks about all of the faxing they did back and forth. But the thing that bugs me the most is Raphael's tone. He never wants the reader to forget that he is the intellectual giant in this creative duo and that we can all go and read his other stuff if we ever doubted such a thing. For instance, I recall a passage in which the topic of Full Metal Jacket, Kubrick's 1987 picture about Vietnam, came up in a phone conversation between the two men. 'You've seen the movie, right Freddie?' Kubrick would ask him. 'Yes', Raphael replied. He also managed to inject a comment to Kubrick that because the movie unfolded in an unlinear fashion, that Aristotle would have hated watching it. Who cares what Aristotle would have thought of Full Metal Jacket?
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Portrait of the Late Director
Review: Fascinating portrait of the working Kubrick. No this is not the "end-all" biography of Kubrick (I still think the best one has not yet been written), but who really cares about his childhood, parents, etc. I want to know about the director, his films, his obsessions, etc. and this book gives many insights and one view of Kubrick the writer and filmmaker. It details one screenwriters nuts and bolts, day-to-day working relationship with Kubrick. It certainly answers one question most Kubrick buffs are always asking: "Why does it take him so long to make a film?" I'm sure if Tom Cruise had written the book it would be entirely different but by no means a more "complete" view of Kubrick. Highly recommended!
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