i use adobe premier pro. it is the best software for editing but it is professional. you really need to know work in it.i am working in it for a 2 months and i am still learning. so much options, and louds of things that i dont know their use.
but i have bought a book with a turtorials. it is soo much easier when you have somewone who can help you with this program. soo if you have a free time( and nervs) go for it. adobe premier pro is my number one.

but if you are amateur use Windows movie maker or video edit magic.
they are easy to work and you dont have to spend a louds of times in front of your pc. i have made movie for my school(lenght: 90 min). i needed just 50 min for editing, croping sceenes and making a titles. the whole movie was over in 65min. and it was published next day. but it doesnt have a louds of transitions and special effects because the movie maker didnt have soo much options like APP.

Ok, I have to chime in here, I am a film student and I know of many different programs that allow you to do things similar to what ILM did for Lord of the Rings, and many other productions that they worked on. There are many different programs that I use on a daily basis. I have a computer in my house with many different hard drives due to the amount of programs that I have, I use Blender, I use Maya, I use Poser, and I use 3DS Max, which are all great 3D animation software. When I started with 3D animation I started with Blender and then slowly advanced to the others by learning new skills and how to manipulate things faster. As for actual Special Effects software, I use Photoshop to do some discoloring of objects or coming up with backgrounds which I will put in place of a green or blue screen. These backgrounds look as real as real can get because I learned different brushing techniques and things like that due to fact that I study photo editing, and I use Photoshop to do so, therefore, I must make them look as real as possible. Also I use Adobe After Affects to add things and green/blue screen my scenery into my pictures. For some cool looking titles, I use the one and only Windows Movie Maker, it isn't the greatest software, but it does what I need it to do. As for actual editing software, I use Final Cut Pro, Avid Xpress DV, and Adobe Premiere Pro. I also use some patches and software that I developed to do certain projects, but they are outdated to the point where they do not run on any modern computer, they are just 100% dead. Otherwise, you can do some good stuff with all these programs which cost a good deal of money when you buy them all. As for DVD editing, I use Adobe Encore DVD, and DVD Studio. They are amazing programs, and with them, you can render things like LOTR, but on a less budgeted and quality scale. Also, it get's difficult if you have a blue screened set, and you are trying to superimpose things over it, because of motion capture, and you need to be really good at it. So I suggest that before you go making a full motion picture, you try it out and just do some test stuff with movement of camera and superimposement first. It actually helps, and it is good for future reference on how you do things.

I am glad to give info on this, so yeah, talk to you later!

~Turn Off The Light~

I do agree with round. It is not just one software for creating such striking effects. They not only use official programs but also they write some special ones for their project. one of the best softwares they can you as a platform for creating their highly specific applications is Maya. Maya includes MEL Language which is based on C++ language. 3D softwares are mostly used for creating virtual scenes and manipulating already taped objects on the scene and film editting programs such as Premier is used for color manipulation and othere 2D Desired effects.