Talk about a whirlwind summer.

After a lackluster April and May, the box office came roaring back to life with monster hits like "Inside Out 2" and "Deadpool & Wolverine." While those two installments did even better than expected — "Inside Out 2" is now the top-grossing animated film of all time, and "Deadpool & Wolverine" just raked in a cool billion — maybe the biggest surprise of the season is "Twisters."

No superheroes or Jedi warriors; just regular Americans showing up and doing their duty.

Much like one of the titular tornados Glen Powell and crew chase down, the disaster flick's success seemed to come out of nowhere.

In retrospect, it makes sense that audiences would flock to this highly belated sequel to 1996's "Twister." A non-woke, thrilling blockbuster for all ages, with likeable movie stars portraying likeable characters; big, edge-of-your-seat action sequences; and a story with heart? Take our money.

But there’s another reason for all the love: a little factor I like to call the Maverick effect.

Allow me to explain. Two summers ago, ticket sales soared into the stratosphere with the release of another sequel decades in the making: "Top Gun: Maverick."

While "Maverick" has all the virtues I just extolled in "Twisters," there's a little something else both movies share, besides the rising star power of Glen Powell: American pride.

It's a bit more understated than the over-the-top patriotism of '80s classics like "Rambo" or "Rocky IV," and that's what's so appealing about it.

That is to say, both films depict real people doing real things and turn it into epic cinema. Whether they're flying jets at Mach 9 speeds or chasing storms in the untraveled farmlands of Oklahoma, these people are ultimately just doing their jobs.

Where they do those jobs also matters: "Maverick" at the North Island Naval Air Station, San Diego, where brave men and women serve this country over seas and skies; and "Twisters" in the fictional Midwestern everytown of Wakita, Oklahoma. Both settings respectfully evoke the kind of hardworking American communities not often seen on the big screen.

No superheroes or Jedi warriors; just regular Americans showing up and doing their duty. You might say Tom Cruise takes a similar workmanlike approach to his job as a movie star, even if does involve hanging off of the side of a plane or climbing the world's tallest building. And it's clearly rubbed off on his protégé, Powell. Like Cruise before him, the younger star is open about his desire to entertain the "vast parts of America that have been underserved in terms of movies that they want to see.”

Clearly, if you serve them, they will come. Hollywood isn’t known for learning the right lessons from its successes (or its failures), but here’s hoping that the powers that be catch on to the Maverick effect and its endless potential for driving American audiences back to the cinemas.

'The Acolyte' star: Asians need a Tom Cruise of their own

"Star Wars" actor Manny Jacinto argued that there aren't enough Asian people in Hollywood movies and therefore people should write more stories for their own races.

Jacinto, who has starred in the heavily criticized "Star Wars" series "The Acolyte," reflected on his time filming "Top Gun: Maverick" in an interview with GQ.

He commented on how the majority of his lines were left on the cutting room floor, an outcome he generally connected to the idea that producer and star Tom Cruise is making movies for white people.

'At the end of the day, Tom Cruise is writing stories for Tom Cruise.'

"It's flattering that there was a little bit of an outcry, but it wasn't shocking to me," Jacinto said regarding his reduced role in the film.

"There was this sense of where the film was going [on set], like I can see them focusing the camera more on these [other] guys and not taking so much time on our scenes. Fortunately, it still was a great experience — you get to see this huge machine at work, see how Tom Cruise works, and you get to be a small part of this huge franchise," he explained.

Jacinto said an experience like that "fuels you" because "at the end of the day, Tom Cruise is writing stories for Tom Cruise."

"It's up to us — Asian-Americans, people of color — to be that [for ourselves]. We can't wait for somebody else to do it. If we want bigger stories out there, we have to make them for ourselves."

"The Acolyte" seemingly meets those diversity initiatives, according to Jacinto, who said he felt that actors of his race in the "Star Wars" series proved to be meaningful.

"I know there are plenty of 'Star Wars' fans that look like you and me already [in 'The Acolyte']," he told GQ's writer, who is also Asian. "But it's exciting that in this new iteration we have Lee Jung-Jae, myself, Amandla [Stenberg], [and] Jodie Turner-Smith," he added. "Even more people of color will be able to relate to and celebrate and see themselves in this entity that is 'Star Wars.'"

"Star Wars" projects that were released during Jacinto's youth — Episodes I-III — were most certainly diverse, but apparently not to the degree that Jacinto found satisfactory.

"I remember watching all of the movies with my parents growing up, [but] if I'm completely transparent with you, ['Star Wars'] was cool, it was something I admired, but almost from afar. Maybe because I didn't see anybody like me in 'Star Wars,' it was never something I aspired to be in, the way I'd watch a Jackie Chan film or something and go, 'Oh, I want to do that.'"

Creator George Lucas addressed this issue of diversity and representation at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

"They would say, 'It's all white men,' [but] most of the people are aliens!"

"The idea is you're supposed to accept people for what they are, whether they're big and furry or whether they're green or whatever. The idea is all people are equal," he continued, per the Independent. "In the first [movie] there were a few Tunisians who were dark, and in the second one I had Billy Williams, and the [prequels], which they were also criticizing, I had Sam Jackson. He wasn't a scoundrel like Lando. He was one of the top Jedi."

Fending off more criticism, Lucas also addressed complaints that the women in his films appeared too typically feminine.

"You can't just put a woman in pants and expect her to be a hero. They can wear dresses; they can wear whatever they want," he said, noting that female characters were the drivers of the films.

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'Mission Impossible 7's' harrowing AND PROPHETIC message about artificial intelligence

Each film in the "Mission Impossible" franchise revolves around IMF agent Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise) saving the world from some formidable foe. Sometimes that adversary is a deadly virus, other times a sinister terrorist, and in some cases a weapon of mass destruction.

The most recent film, "Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1" (2023), is no different. It, too, features a daunting enemy that threatens the survival of humanity.

But this time, we’d be wise to pay close attention to the enemy, as it gives us a prescient warning of what is likely waiting for us in the near future.

“The movie makes a really, really good case,” Glenn says, “about what [artificial intelligence] will be like.”

For example, “it will know everything about you, it will be able to predict you because of companies like Google and Facebook” that are “collecting mountains of information,” he continues.

Even something as seemingly benign as a smart refrigerator “is collecting information on you” in order to “know exactly what you’ll do.”

Luckily, there’s a solution for the fictional characters in the film – simply “use the original code” to “reboot the system.”

But in reality, reining in the technological behemoth won’t be so simple.

In the words of Elon Musk, once we “[summon] the demon,” or develop technology capable of teaching itself, there’s a slim chance we’ll be able to regain control once it takes off.

Why can’t we just use the original code and reboot the system like in the film?

“Because it will know you’re going to try to do that,” Glenn shouts. It’s designed to predict your every move, meaning it will always be a step (or several steps) ahead of you.

“The fact is,” Stu adds, “even scientists, even people who have created AI … don’t even seem to know where this is going.”

And it’s undeniably true.

Some of the greatest minds of our current day have expressed hesitancy when it comes to AI.

Elon Musk said, “I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I were to guess what our biggest existential threat is, it’s probably that.”

Stephen Hawking also warned that “the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.”

Stu’s fears don’t end with the unstoppability of AI, though. He also is deeply concerned about what the left intends to “teach” the technology “at the recipe level.”

“They’re seeing this as a huge opportunity,” he warns.

Watch the full clip below.

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Joe Rogan has a blistering reaction to this new boycott

Pride Month is nearly halfway over, and many people were over it and over the virtue-signaling by massive corporations before it even started.

One of those people is Joe Rogan, host of the podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience" — which garners a couple hundred million listeners a month.

Rogan says he doesn’t want to walk down the Target aisles and have the Pride section with tucking bathing suits and pride wear for children shoved in his face.

“When I go to Target, I don’t want to see like f***ing tuck pants” that are “designed to help you tuck your d***. Like, hey, that’s not normal,” Rogan says.

Nor does he fail to see why people are angry with Bud Light.

“You’re just gonna send a f***ing can to some confused person — that uh, day 365 of womanhood — and you send that person a f***ing can with their face on and your company loses 20 billion dollars. That is wild s**t, man,” Rogan says to his guest, comedian Theo Von.

“So, we’re seeing that now, where we never saw that before. Where people are going ‘Enough, enough, stop shoving this down everybody’s throat,'” he continues.

Dave Rubin agrees with Rogan.

“That really is the issue. Does it have to be out there in front of everybody, and again, does it have to be aimed towards kids?”

Rubin believes that the reason it’s so refreshing to hear someone like Joe Rogan lay out his disdain for the over-saturation of Pride Month is because “he just kind of represents the average dude” who’s “not pretending to be anything other than what he is, and he’s had it.”

While some have criticized the boycotts of Target and Bud Light as aligned with cancel culture, Rubin disagrees, calling being canceled for an off-color comment “inorganic.”

He continues, saying that the people who listen to Joe Rogan, “that buy Bud Light, that maybe shop at Target, they’ve all had it. And that’s the beauty, because this is an organic movement.”

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Insane video: Tom Cruise actually motorcycles off Norwegian cliff for 'Mission: Impossible' stunt. What he pulls off to survive it is even better.

Actor Tom Cruise has developed a reputation not only for performing his own stunts but also for making them incredibly elaborate and downright terrifying.

For "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One," which hits theaters next July, Cruise and his team worked up a stunt for the ages. His plan was to gun a motorcycle down an elevated ramp on the edge of a Norwegian cliff, head directly into skydive mode once he's airborne, and then parachute back to the ground.

The whole thing is over and done in a flash, but Cruise said in a behind-the-scenes video released Monday that it took "years" to develop and perfect.

"This is far and away the most dangerous thing we've ever attempted," Cruise says in a voiceover as the clip begins: