Ok... let me answer your questions:
nickswarr wrote
What I have in mind is creating a module(s) for writing reviews for things like movies, videogames, music and other assorted media. The problem is that I envision it to contain multiple pages that each contain a set of controls for user entry, administration and viewing. Based on all of the introductory code I encounter it rarely discusses something of this complexity.
That's actually one of my biggest objections to the DNN guys that "drive" module development. I also think that there is not enough attention given to more complex module solutions.
I personally try to focus on that field (you can view my tutorials which can point you in the right direction for starters), but I too haven't given anough effort into providing proper guidance for more serious solutions (I hope that will change in the near future).
nickswarr wrote
Generally, how would that be approached? It's seems like it's a composite of the controls(modules?). Would I have to create multiple modules and then add them manually to a portal?
My experience is that I approach these situtations by diving the functionalities of several modules (one example is www.dvdtrailers.nl - module set on which I've been an architect, medium in size (has only about 8-9 modules), but enough to show you the intent), thus giving the implementator the option to "modularize" his implementation by putting these modules in different combinations over different pages. Usually my modules communicate over querystring (so I can utilize the cross page communication), and in situations where I need to respect the exact order of communication or if I am sure that the modules will be implemented on the same page I use IMC.
In rare situations I need to implement more then one screen per module, then I use child ascx controls which I load into that module based on some improvised menu, querystring or something similar.
nickswarr wrote
Could I create a portable "portal" used for this overall project? Can I have a module that occupies multiple content areas on a page?
When you create your implementation, you can export that portal to a template and then import the template when needed with an already prepared implementation (although some manual tweeks will probably be needed)
nickswarr wrote
I'm new to the DNN scene so I'm still figuring out where to find things and how to develop for the framework. I've read the module dev doc and clicked the sticky forum posts to find the information I'm looking for but it's a bit beyond the scope of the "Hello, world." type introduction to module development. I'm fairly experienced with ASP.NET and N-tier development so I'm not out of my element here. I'm just trying to sketch out how I'm going to do this. I've actually already done this from the ground up at my current website.
If you have any more questions like these... or any questions generally how to develop these kinds of modules, just post them here... I am sure I (and not only me) can help you solve most of your problems and unclearities.
Hope this helps,