plugin/widget to display posts from certain catergories

Hi,
Wondered if someone could help.

I wanted to know of a plugin/widget exists that will grab posts from a certain category and display them within a block in bulleted list form or with thumbnail image and text?

I’m using the StyleWP MovieMaker theme and from what i can gather it does not display blog posts on the front page (only way i can get posts on the front page is by selecting the recent posts widget and displaying it in one of the 2 available sidebars).

While the theme itself does have a front page featured gallery block, when i eventually launch my site, due to it’s nature i will need to display posts from at least 5+ categories on the front page.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. ??