Heretic -
Time and time again, cutscenes are not about the dialogue, they are about Body Language. 90% of communication is done through body language, and Cutscenes really give game creators a chance to show off their eventing skills and express that body language. It is still very possible to do in RPG Maker, and almost somewhat easier. Cutscenes are more than just having two characters stand face to face and spout dialogue at each other. Movies dont do this, why should games?
[VX/VXA] yuyu! - Sprites and facesets
In many games, such as the good ol' Final Fantasy games, the character graphics will take on many poses while talking. Obviously, this requires a lot of spriting, but seems to be well worth the effort. Since not many of us are expert spriters and can't quite sprite 10 different poses for each character, sometimes body language can be displayed through facesets that have multiple emotions per character. If you're not much of artist, consider looking up some RTP facesets (a lot of people like to make them) or maybe even Kaduki's facesets.
*Using balloon icons might also help out a bit.
yuyu! - Twists and turns
My favorite method of displaying body language with the limitations of sprites is to have them turn in many directions. It goes a long way when the characters all actually look at who's talking. It can be a bit creepy and robotic if they all look at that character at the same time, though. So, I also like to add differing "wait" times before each turn for each character. Say, one guy will wait 25 frames before turning to the Player, and another guy will wait 18 frames or whatever.
One of my personal favorites is the "Turn at Random" feature in VXA (maybe VX?). I like to set a good ol' "Turn at Random", "Wait 30 Seconds" to repeat. Having the player look random directions can create a sense of panic, or even confusion. Altering the wait time in between can simply make the player (or event) seem like he is just looking around out of boredom.
Another one of my favorites (I have a lot of favorites) is to make the NPCs creepily watch the player. This can be done by using "Turn towards player" with a small wait time, set on repeat. This can probably get annoying if used in excess.