Regarding the shopping cart, you just said...
.. so would this be an aStore or are you using an amazon shopping cart plugin?
::emp::
Nah, aStores suck. I use Wordpress exclusively for my review sites.
What I've done is customize the back-end of my WordPress post editor using stuff like custom field templates and such so it has a data-entry look and feel. I also make use of several different review templates so my sites don't look cookie-cutter. The Amazon add-to-cart buttons are integrated into the review templates that I use. This gives my sites an e-commerce feel since people can then add products right to their cart from my site.