Well if you're used to FC, then Premiere is probably the way to go. Avid is probably too pricey, as well as too steep. I've yet to see an FCP editor sit in front of an Avid station and handle it properly.. but I've seen Avid editors pick up FCP quickly. If you're just learning the basics then go with Premiere or Edius. Edius has real time render and that is a lovely feature.
As far as the product not being important, well..as you can tell from the exchange between me and vanblah (no hard feelings
...) it does matter. Since you don't have to worry about media management as much.. either of the "lower" setups will work.
vanblah: I'm not an Avid fanboy per say, I just like how I can do things on it, it's layout and it's features as well as the media management aspect. Media Management is a huge factor for me, so you can see why I don't like vegas. I know FCP and while it's relatively easy to learn and cut on, I hate it's media management. I've used Vegas once.. and cursed it so much I swore it down from that day on.
Since hannukah is going to be using it for some film projects I still recommend picking up avid if affordable since media management will be important. I think Avid has done away with XpressPro, but there may be some other options.. if not then Premiere is still the best bet. Since After Effects integrates well with Premiere (duh Adobe right?) that may be the best option at this point.
One word of advice hannukah.. transitions and effects may be fun to play with.. but don't get carried away. If your final product looks like an effect bin threw up on your project.. you'll lose your message.
Edit: hannukah: check out creativecow.net for tons of tutorials and great articles on film effects and everything in between. There's great stuff on there.. and it's free