1. “Tender Loving Care”
2. “Wild Horse Nine”
3. “The Debut”
4. “Club Kid”
5. “Artificial”

“This category might feature several past nominees — Mike Leigh, Martin McDonagh and Jesse Eisenberg — who’ve never won. This also might be Leigh’s last chance to win an Academy Award; he touts a pitch-perfect picture about family and loss that features the kind of immeasurable empathy that’s made him one of our great humanists.”

1. “Wild Horse Nine”
2. “Tender Loving Care”
3. “The Debut”
4. “I Play Rocky”
5. “Elsinore”

“With many of the top overall contenders in the adapted category this year, past short-film winner Martin McDonagh could finally earn his first Oscar for a feature thanks to his brilliant ‘Wild Horse Nine’ script. The writers’ branch is also apt to recognize Mike Leigh for his (likely) final film, ‘Tender Loving Care.’ ”

1. “Wild Horse Nine”
2. “The Debut”
3. “Artificial”
4. “Club Kid”
5. “Digger”

“Jesse Eisenberg is poised to become the 21st century’s next great screenwriter. Martin McDonagh has already been anointed. Whoever wins, we all win.”

1. “Wild Horse Nine”
2. “Tender Loving Care”
3. “Artificial”
4. “The Debut”
5. “Club Kid”

“The writers go their own way. The front-runners are two overdue veterans: six-time feature nominee McDonagh’s ‘Wild Horse Nine’ and seven-time nominee Mike Leigh’s likely swan song, ‘Tender Loving Care.’ That could be a powerful narrative.”

1. “The Debut”
2. “Wild Horse Nine”
3. “Artificial”
4. “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma”
5. “Club Kid”

“Eisenberg and McDonagh deliver unsurprisingly great work for ‘The Debut’ and ‘Wild Horse Nine’ (Eisenberg even wrote the pitch-perfect Pasek-and-Paul song parodies for the film). Otherwise, I’m pulling hard for Jane Schoenbrun to at least score a nom for ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.’ ”

1. “The Debut”
2. “Wild Horse Nine”
3. “Tender Loving Care”
4. “Artificial”
5. “Fjord”

“Mike Leigh has five Oscar nominations for writing. His latest — and according to him, his last — should earn him a sixth. It’s the kind of bracing, compassionate story of human connection that Leigh does so well. It’s easily one of the year’s best movies.”