Now I'm seeing these moments everywhere ...

Mark Wahlberg in 'The Shooter'. "They shot my dog". Aww.

Denzel in 'American Gangster' - the dressing table that he had made for his mother. Something that was taken from her when he was five years old. He's held on to that awful memory, made it a new and beautiful one.

Okay, I've got it. Now to just give my character a fresh and original take and bury it deep so you hardly know it's there. Should be easy, right ...

Those are great example, kiwichick. What about the movie Throw Momma From The Train, where Owen (Danny DeVito), whose goal is to kill his mother, has a private moment with Larry Donner (Billy Crystal) in which Owen shows Larry his coin collection -- this coin was given to him by a favorite uncle, this one he got as change at a memorable baseball game, and so on. Each coin had a specific cherished memory for Owen's character, which served so well in humanizing this guy whose goal is to whack his own mother.