What program is good for special effects? WMM is too plain

I think that Windows Movie Maker is a bit too plain as it only seems to have very simple special effects.

I want something that is more professional looking, and yet at the same time hopefully easy to use.

Can you recommend anything? I want to edit videos with cool effects.

Thanks.

 

adobe primiere CS3 can help...

 

But I heard that is a very difficult program to use.

 

trakAxPC is pretty good IMO, especially for a free software;

http://www.trakax.com/software/pc/

 

After Effects the best for me right now..search for some tutorials out there and if you want some examples please take a look at the video here

After Effects Reel

Essex Movie Title

for more info check out this cool site also..

for tutorials out there take a look at these sites

CGarena

Digitalmedianet

Pixel2life

 

What do you mean special effects, for photos or for movies?

For photos- Adobe Photoshop
For movie makers- Adobe Premier

 

I think it's for videos..

 

If you cannot afford Premiere, get Premiere Elements which is around $75.

For complicated "effects" like rotoscoping and compositing, your best bet is to invest in After Effects.