I have prefered with Wordpress 1. Easy to customize (its never ending) 2. Full of SEO proff! (You would be never regret!) 3. FREE... This is what everyone like it!
I think there aren't any really good shortcuts. Trying to make money with an Amazon plugin is doomed to failure, you might make a little bit, but the real money is going to come from providing unique content - good reviews that people want to read. Think about it this way - when you are trying to decide whether or not to spend money on something - don't you want a real review? Are you ever really fooled by 'mashups' found on the web? And do any of these 'plugin powered' sites ever get up on page one of Google?