It really depends on the corporate culture. The last review heavy place would put an overly positive spin on everything. In one review I wrote, I could've said "Jack's project has been taking an excessively long time to complete. He needs to work on delivering changes incrementally", instead I spin it as "I'm really looking forward to the delivery of Jack's work on X! He's been working on <initiative> since the last review cycle. It will be exciting when it is finally completed."

Leave it up to the manager to interpret and read between the lines. At the end of the day, the better managers know it's all bullshit anyway.