In a strong indication as to what film might prevail in the writing category come Oscar night, ‘Her’ and ‘Captain Phillips’ were awarded top honours by the Writers Guild last night Saturday, Feb 1, according to Reuters. 

Joaquin Phoenix in HerJoaquin Phoenix excelled in Spike Jonez's 'Her'

Spike Jonez was handed the gong for Best Original Screenplay for his movie, ‘Her’ – a love story set in the not-so-distant future, following a charming-yet-socially awkward Theodor as he develops a relationship with his Operating System, voices by Scarlett Johansson.

Jonez, who also directed the film as well as penning the script, was honoured to accept the award. "It's a high honor coming from writers," he explained. "I was thinking about how in a way it's like an award for pain," he added. "It's a specific pain that writers know and it's the highs and lows of sitting in there by yourself."

We have trailer for Her, and Captain Phillips. You should watch them.

‘Her’ is nominated for a Writing award at the Oscars alongside two music awards, Original Song and Score, not to mention a nod in the Best Picture category, where it faces stuff competition from the likes of 12 Years a Slave, Dallas Buyers Club and The Wolf of Wolf Street.

Another film vying for the mantle of Best Picture is Captain Phillips – Paul Greengrass’s adaptation of the true-to-life story involving a Somali pirate hijacking of a U.S controlled ship. Tom Hanks gives a great performance as the titular Captain, but wasn’t acknowledged in the Best Actor category.

Captain PhillipsCaptain Phillips tells the story of the titular captain's ordeal

The film was based on Richard Phillips' 2010 memoir "A Captain's Duty" about the ordeal. "I also owe quite a debt to Captain Richard Phillips, who survived something that I know would've killed me," Billy Ray – the writer - said accepting the award. "It's really Captain Phillips who wrote this story; I just wrote it down."