Well stars give out light from all the chemical reactions taking place in them, these reactions give out light energy. We see stars through lots of moving air surrounding the earth. Light is of air, this makes the light from the star look like it's moving (like looking through a heat haze at things) and that's the twinkling effect.
"Stars closer to the horizon appear to twinkle more than stars that are overhead - this is because the light of stars near the horizon has to travel through more air than the light of stars overhead and so is subject to more refraction. Also, planets do not usually twinkle, because they are so close to us; they appear big enough that the twinkling is not noticeable (except when the air is extremely turbulent)."
"Stars wouldn't twinkle if we viewed them from outer space (or from a planet/moon that didn't have an atmosphere and therefore no air to refract the light)."
The brightness depends on their size, distance from earth and how old the star is...what stage of life it's in. The brightest "stars" will be planets, mars and venus.