He’d read the book (and gave it to me to read…I didn’t finish it). It was very entertaining.

Lots of fun reading essentially my nerdy childhood. But after I read the author's second novel, Armada, I realized he was a bit of a one-trick pony, andthe more I thought about it I started seeing the story was thin and the plot holes covered with pop culture references.
I actually enjoyed the movie more than I expected because it didn't dive into the weird nerdsplaining that the book does, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. But it seems to be a "love it or hate it" flick.

not so much the movie.

That often happens but it does not mean the movie is bad.

DVR’d it........

Went in with high hopes for the movie - mainly that Spielberg could put his daddy-issues on the back-burner for once - and enjoyed it. I don't understand why people bagged on it. It was good popcorn movie. Plenty of nostalgia for us old fogeys.