Lightwave, 3DS MAX, Inventor all able to simulate physics easily.

Maya comes as a PLE edition if you want to use that indefinately.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=7639525http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...112&id=7639525

However it does come with awful rendering overlays becuase its free.

For animating and cinematics perhaps consider a media based piece of oftware like Lightwave and MAX, for more dynamic peices, inventor wins really.