They're useful sometimes...other times, they're annoying. Like when you've got JUST the perfect moment for a flanking attack, only to be yanked out of a battle, and, once given control again, the computer's blocked the gap. Its pretty rare, but it happens.

I say do some kind of picture-in-picture notification. A little screen that pops up in a corner of the screen showing the cinematic. That or make it optional. Or both.