Windows MovieMaker is SAD - alternatives?

Hello fellow geeksters:

I am looking for an alternative to Windows Movie Maker that can edit video footage (FLV as well as MPG, AVI, etc.) that is user-friendly, has nice titles & transitions, but isn't as dated or codec-confused. I currently own VideoCharge, but have only used it for video conversion, not editing multiple clips into a nice little reel one can post to all the usual suspects.

Anyone have any inexpensive shareware or hitherto-unknown freeware programs they really like? Thanks in advance!

:major